I Lost a World!
by Rose's.wings
Summary: She was just a girl with nothing to do, but that changes when she wakes up on another planet and is taken in by aliens. All she wants is to find her sister and go home but with civil war looming, not to mention the speech barrier, will she ever get back?
1. Chapter 1: Unsteady Dreams

A new story, hurray! I'm so excited. I've just been so excited about Transformers 3 all summer that some of my excitement leaked out in the form of creative fiction. As for universe, the movies are pretty much all I know, but they come into relatively little play at the moment because, well, you'll find out soon enough. This is more for fun than to further any one particular universe. However I do rely on the book Transformers: Exodus fairly a lot. Not word for word, but a bit, just to give you that heads up.

Of course I own nothing of otherwordly importance, but I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. And now, without further ado, _I Lost a World!_

_..._

I Lost A World!

**I lost a World - the other day! by Emily Dickinson**

I lost a World - the other day!  
>Has Anybody found?<br>You'll know it by the Row of Stars  
>Around its forehead bound.<p>

A Rich man - might not notice it -  
>Yet - to my frugal Eye,<br>Of more Esteem than Ducats -  
>Oh find it - Sir - for me!<p>

1 – Unsteady Dreams – 1

The city was dark as Aria stumbled through it, the chilly air raising goose bumps on her bare arms and legs as she passed buildings that seemed too tall to be real. Confused, she clumsily rubbed at her arms as she slowly shuffled one foot in front of the other. _"Why is it so cold?"_ She managed to ask herself through the pounding in her head. _"It's the middle of summer. Isn't it? Or was that all a dream?"_

Then Aria gave a little laugh as she thought, _"Or maybe I'm still in the dream."_

If she was, it certainly was an odd, scary dream. First she and her sister had been driving to the movies for some big summer action flick, arguing about the music Aria was playing (classical of course). That had seemed normal enough to Aria at the time – she and her nine year old sister were _always_ fighting over music – but then this blindingly bright light, whiter than bleached snow, had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, hitting their car with an almost physical force.

Aria remembered throwing her arms over her eyes as she screamed, giving up on steering the car entirely as the light engulfed them. She remembered Serafina screaming too as the terror struck them both. And then the car had disappeared, and both girls had landed, quite forcefully, on the hard, hard ground. Aria remembered feeling like her bones were trying to crawl out of her skin as she lay there trying to think past the horrifying pain that was running up and down and around her trembling body. Even now, as she forced herself to walk, sharp echoes of that torturing pain snapped down her legs, making her wince and gasp even though it had dulled considerably compared to before.

Aria had lain there long enough for the light to go away, panting and heaving against the pain and the sudden chill. Eventually, her vision cleared enough that she saw her little sister lying in front of her, shivering against the cold and the misery just like her. Aria remembered crying then, at the sight of her frightened little sister.

"Don't worry Sera, it'll be alright," she tried to say, but all that came out was a raspy croak, as if her throat had been scoured out by sand.

Seeing Serafina's small, pale face had chased away most of the numbing haze in Aria's mind. _"Help," _she remembered thinking, _"I've got to get help!"_

So she had struggled to her feet, somehow managing not to shriek as the pain doubled, then faded to something that felt tolerable after the vicious attack on her nervous system. Not sure where she was going, Aria had crept forward, her vision still patchy and dim from the overexposure to whatever light had eaten them.

She dimly remembered passing some sort of low metal wall, like a kind of fence almost, when she heard the noise. It was high and discordant, grating across her ears like a cheese grater sliding across a chalkboard. She had gasped, trying to cover her ears, and had fallen over with the sudden movement behind the strange metal wall-fence, staring up at the night sky as she prayed for nothing more than the mind crushing noise to stop scraping against her ears.

But then she must have forgotten the rest of her dream, or maybe it had just skipped along randomly like most of her dreams did, because the next thing Aria remembered was stumbling along this street, wondering how she had gotten here, and thinking on her peculiar dream.

A rise in the sidewalk tripped her and Aria fell, scraping her palms and knees against the rough ground.

_"This hurts an awful lot for just a dream,"_ she thought vaguely as she pushed herself up into a more or less upright position.

Seeing the blood on her hands reminded Aria of something and she made a small, "oh," sound as she stood there, wobbling on her shaky legs. It all made perfect sense now, she thought with a woozy smile.

"M'blood sugar's low," she slurred to no one in particular.

That must be it, she slowly realized. She felt shaky, weak, weary, all symptoms she had felt before when her blood sugar had dropped below 80. Dimly she remembered her first doctor even telling her that diabetics could start acting funny when their sugars dropped dangerously low. She must be hallucinating! Not dreaming. All she needed was some candy and some rest – and maybe an ambulance – and she'd be just fine. Relieved that she was just temporarily losing her mind, Aria laughed, a giddy, unstable sound that no one else heard.

Looking around Aria wondered if there was a place to sit nearby until she was back to normal, a bench or a swing set or something. Off to her right, a small archway caught her attention and, thinking that she could at least get out of the slight wind that was making her shiver, she hobbled over and flopped down almost bonelessly on the floor once she was inside.

Looking down at herself she realized her purse was gone, probably left somewhere in her unbalanced state. That meant no candy.

Aria made a face. That left the glucose tablets. They were small and dusty and tasted like medicinal strawberry, but they were all that she had. So she dug into her pants pocket and pulled the little nasties out. Aria stuck her tongue out at them before dropping four into her palm, looking more like she was ten years old rather then eighteen. Then with a practiced, if not unsteady, motion, she flung them into her mouth.

Her eyelids started to close heavily as she chewed and swallowed the pink sugar tablets. Tired beyond belief and not thinking straight, Aria mumbled a prayer that her blood sugar wouldn't kill her in her sleep and then curled up on the floor, unable to keep her eyes open a second longer.


	2. Chapter 2: Crash and Bang

Woo yes! 70 hits in a week! I swear this is the highlight of my week! I thank you all, especially destinyswindow, SakuraDagger15, and xxjazz's girlxx for requesting alerts. Thank You! Til next time!

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I Lost A World!

2 – Crash and Bang – 2

Waking up was a slow process for Aria on any normal summer day, but the morning after the failed trip to the movies was especially difficult. She came to slowly, first aware of the heavy feeling of gravity on her body, quickly followed by all the tens of thousands of aches and pains that ticked at her muscles.

Softly she groaned in her semi-awake state as the night's events came back to her just as slowly as consciousness did. Dimly she remembered the car, then the light, then the pain, and then the noise. Somehow she even remembered her pained trek through the dark city, but just barely.

She thought it had all been a dream of course.

But when she finally opened her eyes wide enough to see her gleaming metal surroundings, she knew something was wrong.

_"Where am I?"_ She wondered thickly as her brain slowly began to think again. _"Did I stay over at someone's house? Or, or,"_ the light that had engulfed her car the night before suddenly flashed through her head, _"or am I in the hospital maybe?"_

For a long moment she stared up at the flat, steel gray ceiling, trying to puzzle it all out. But when she couldn't think of any helpful answer, she took in a deep breath and tried to sit up.

It was a lot harder then she had thought it would be. Pain shot through her muscles as what felt like every single one of them spasmed at her movement. It hurt like nothing Aria had felt before and she gasped, then stopped breathing altogether as she pushed herself up off the floor.

Her stubbornness was rewarded as she somehow struggled into a sitting position, or at least, what resembled one. She slouched over as fire ran down her back and lightening made her legs twitch unpleasantly.

"Ow…" she groaned when most of the pain had receded. "What in the world happened? I feel like I was rolled over by a truck." And, given the bright light she remembered, maybe that was what happened.

It was then, when the light and the screaming and the panic were playing once again through her mind, that she finally remembered her sister had been with her through the whole thing.

"Sera!" Aria shouted. She looked around, but her sister wasn't anywhere nearby. In fact, all that she could see was a metal corridor stretching before her, starting from the archway she had come through last night. Only now in the light she saw that it wasn't so much of an archway as a slanted hole worn through a large metal wall.

"Sera!" Aria yelled down the dark hallway, but all she heard was her echo. _Sera! Sera! Sera!_

"Serafina!" She screamed. But still no one answered.

A different panic began to take hold in Aria's chest. "Oh God," she muttered hoarsely, tears pricking at her blue eyes, "Oh God please no. _Serafina!_" She shrieked louder still.

When all she heard was her own voice bouncing against the metallic walls, Aria struggled to her feet, ignoring the pain in her legs as she stumbled forward into the dimly lit tunnel. The only light came from the hole behind her and as she crept deeper into the metal construct, even that light became fainter and fainter, until all she could see were her pale hands as the reached in front of her like ghosts.

"Sera?" Aria asked again, but in a much quieter voice. The darkening hallway was giving her the willies the farther in she went. There was just no telling what else might be traveling through its dark recesses with her.

"Sera," Aria moaned, well and truly in the dark now.

Somehow she kept going, even though she couldn't see. Then, just before she had lost her nerve and was going to head back to where daylight still reached inside the tunnel, she saw a bright spot ahead. Not daylight, but an electrical light, like a lamp or something, glowing in the dimness ahead of her.

Relieved, Aria rushed forward as fast as she dared, glad just to be able to see more than a few inches in front of her again. Now she could see that another hole stood in front of her, much like the one she had first come through. The light was shining through it.

She slowed down when she reached the opening, limping slightly as pins and needles started to tingle in her left foot. Quickly she shook it off as she got close enough to peer through the opening.

"Sera? Are you out there? Seraf-" Aria trailed off in mid word at the sight of what lay beyond the hole.

A large room stretched out before her. Only it wasn't large like a great hall or a mansion sized living room or anything like that. It was just…big. Everything in it, from the table she saw to the door at the other end of the room, was more than twice as large as normal. When she had dared to walk towards the edge of what she thought must be a counter, well away from the hole and the tunnel beyond it, Aria saw that the floor was a good story down. It was like she had just climbed the beanstalk and had stumbled upon the home of the giant. Everything was just so _huge_.

A rattle of noise just out of her sight snapped Aria out of her shocked staring. She whirled to her left, quickly making her way to where the counter top ended. "Sera?" She whispered now, not wanting to find out if the giant was home or not. "Sera is that you?"

It wasn't.

As Aria watched, the giant of the house stepped into view. Taller than anything Aria could remember seeing, what looked like a robotic behemoth walked past the spot where Aria stood, paralyzed in her total shock.

She couldn't believe it, just _could not _believe what she was seeing. Her jaw dropped, but fortunately no sound came out as she unconsciously backed away from the counter's edge as the creature walked past without seeing her. Instead, it walked to the other side of the room, searching the tabletop for something Aria was sure she couldn't comprehend. Whether the robot found whatever it was looking for, Aria never knew, but it didn't really matter because when it was done looking over the table, it turned around.

And saw her.

Aria was still too shocked to process what happened next, but she heard a loud noise that reminded her of the force of a train whistle, although the sound itself was different. Then there was a tremendous crash as one of the robot's feet slipped out from under it and it fell heavily to the floor.

Breathing fast, Aria backed away, not sure if she should scream or cry or pass out from the shock of it all. But then a loud clatter made her look up. Now she finally did scream when she saw a jumble of metal, made up of pieces as large as her at the very least, falling towards her with frightening speed.

She jumped toward the hole she had come through, still shrieking. Then there was a bang and clamor and a thousand different clangs as Aria hit the ground, throwing her arms around her head and ears, as if that could stop the contorted pieces about to squish her.

There was a heart pounding moment of horror where Aria waited for them to fall on her.

But then nothing.

Carefully, Aria opened one eye. Darkness stretched before her and she realized with knee quaking relief that she had made it to the tunnel. Then, after the ringing in her ears had finally gone and her heart wasn't drowning out the frightening sound of her quick breath, Aria turned herself over to see what had become of the crash.

The opening was covered with a heap of what looked like scrap to her, but might have had some purpose she could not discern. At first she thought she was trapped inside the tunnel and would have to go all the way back to where she had started, but then she saw the streaks of electric light shining through the pieces of metal.

For a long moment, she sat there in the dark, her rapid breathing the only sound in her ears aside from her thundering heartbeat. She didn't know what she expected – maybe a giant hand pushing aside the scrap and reaching in after her? – but nothing came.

When her pulse had finally faded from her ears, she dared to stand up, although her legs still shook violently. _"What the heck was that?"_ She asked herself as her panic dulled just a bit. _"Duh,"_ The other, somewhat ruder, part of her mind answered, _"it's a giant metal robot! What d'ya think it is?"_

She swallowed hard. _"But that's impossible. This is all impossible. It just can't be happening!"_

She could feel the panic returning, threatening to swamp her reasonable senses until all she would be able to do was curl up into a ball and hyperventilate.

Instead, she closed her eyes to try and stave off the panic she felt growing in her chest and for a long minute concentrated on breathing deep and slow.

_"It's alright," _she lied to herself, _"it's going to be alright. Look, nothing's even happening. I bet the whatever-it-is didn't even see me. I-it's probably already left."_

She opened her eyes at the thought. Outside there was only silence. _"Maybe…" _she dared to think, _"Maybe it really did leave."_

Carefully, Aria stepped forward and, with shaking hands, reached out and gripped a large slab of hard steel that separated her from the creature. Miraculously there was space enough between the mess of pieces for her to slide between them and, after some quiet maneuvering, she came to the end of the maze. Stopping to take a deep breath for courage, she peered around the last slab and looked outside.

The alien was still there, still sitting on the floor where it had fallen, watching the pile of sharp edge, blunt forced killers that had just tried to make her flatter than a cracker crust pizza. Its bright blue eyes locked onto her as soon as she appeared around the edge of the metal.

Aria felt her breath freeze in her chest, but the being didn't move. It simply watched her, looking as curious as she was starting to feel. Now that she wasn't panicking like a skittish horse that just saw a snake, Aria saw that the creature appeared to be made entirely of metal.

_"It really is a robot…"_ She thought curiously. Except, she didn't think it was just a robot. It was staring at her as if trying to puzzle out what she was, as if it was really thinking.

When the robot didn't reach for her, or even move, she scraped at the bottom of her barrel of courage, but when nothing more came up, she turned off her brain and pushed herself free of the protective maze anyway.

When the robot still didn't move, just blinked at her curiously, she carefully stepped out of her shelter and found a path she could use to climb down to the floor, looking over her shoulder at the alien every few feet.

Still it didn't move, just followed her progress with its eyes.

Finally, she reached the ground. The being looked even bigger now that she was on the floor. _"It's gotta be at least as big as the house! Maybe even taller."_ She thought, not knowing what else to think.

A long moment stretched between the two where Aria stared up at the robot, and the robot stared down at Aria.

Finally, not knowing what else to do, Aria hesitantly waved at the metal giant.

Just as hesitantly, as if it wasn't quite sure what the gesture meant, the robot waved back.

Slowly, Aria pulled out her glucose tabs from her pocket and carefully put one in her mouth. "My blood sugar's never going to come up after this." She muttered.

The robot made a loud, almost crunching, sound and Aria wasn't sure if it was laughing, or just talking to itself too.


	3. Chapter 3: Stinted Introductions

Wow! So many hits...feel slightly woozy... ;D And while there are too many alerts (and several favs!) to thank each of you specifically, I thank you anyway. I also graciously thank destinyswindow and SammyValAlxJas for their reviews (I would hug you both for what you said if my arms could magically go through electronics) but I want to dedicate this one to Rockubyebaby for hers/his review because basically, (s)he wanted to read it so bad that they pretty much offered me a cat sitting on top of sugar lumps. ^..^ I'm going to name her Mrs. Mittens. n_n; It was a new idea to say the least.

Now I know that some languages just don't translate well into others, or sometimes at all, but for this next chapter I'm going to rely on proper nouns sounding the same no matter what their original language is. So yeah, enjoy, your last bit of summer as well as chapter three!

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I Lost A World!

3 – Stinted Introductions – 3

Now that she had used up all her courage just getting out of her hideaway, Aria wasn't sure what to do. So she just stood there, staring up at the alien robot sitting in front of her, watching her with the same intensity of a child watching a bug it had never seen before.

_"Well I guess the proportions are about right."_ Aria thought, her brain too stunned to realize she had just compared herself to a bug.

_"Well now what?"_ She thought next, cocking her head.

Maybe the robot was thinking the same thing, because it tilted its head at her too.

Aria's mouth twitched in a smile, some of her bravery gradually returning along with it. So she swallowed hard and used it before it deserted her again. "I-I don't suppose you talk?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly.

The alien stared at her harder, its eyebrows – which oddly enough reminded Aria of windshield wipers – drawing together thoughtfully.

Thinking it just might not have heard her with the height difference, Aria cleared her throat and tried again. "I-," she swallowed to steady her voice, "I asked if you could talk?" She yelled up at the creature.

It frowned slightly at her. Then it said something that sounded more like a trash compactor than words to Aria's ears.

"Well that's a yes," Aria muttered, "I guess."

The robot creature frowned deeper at Aria and said something else. Or maybe it was the same thing. Aria couldn't tell.

"Sorry, still don't understand." Aria said.

The robot sighed, and rubbed its brow. Aria smiled at the familiar gesture. It was like he was just another person. A large, metallic, gibberish speaking, robotic person, but still.

The robot thought for a moment. Then it lit upon some sort of idea because it lifted its hand in an 'Ah-ha!' gesture. Then it put its hand on its chest and said something slow enough that Aria caught a familiar vowel or two.

"Oh wion axe?" She tried, but the robot just said the word again, enunciating carefully enough that Aria heard two words this time instead of one.

"Ore-? Ori-?"

He said it again.

Aria listened hard. "Ori onpax, Ori-" suddenly it hit her, "Orion Pax!" She shouted, her whole face lighting up. "Your name is Orion Pax!" She added, pointing up at the robot.

The robot clapped his hands twice and nodded.

Aria smiled, proud of herself. Then she noticed it, he, she amended (despite all the female Taylors, Devons, and the one Chuck Aria had seen in her high school yearbook, she still had never heard of a girl named Orion before) seemed to be waiting expectantly for something.

"Oh!" Aria finally realized. "Sorry my name's Aria Rhapsody Johnson. Lots of music terms I know, but Mom was going through her classical stage before I was born." She said quickly.

Orion Pax didn't say anything.

Aria laughed nervously. "Sorry," she muttered again, "I talk fast when I'm nervous." Then she steadied her somewhat frazzled mind before gesturing to herself and, speaking as clearly as she could, said, "Aria."

Orion made a hesitant 'er' sound, but Aria wasn't sure if he was trying to say her name or if he was just verbally stumbling.

"Are ree uh." She said slowly.

"Ah reah," he tried.

"Aria," she said again.

"Ahriah," he managed.

Aria smiled. "Close enough."

Orion Pax nodded. "Ariah," he said again.

Aria smiled and nodded back. "Yep, that's me. And you are Orion, like the Greek hero, and Pax, like the, eh, actually I've never heard of a Pax before so I don't know what it's like."

Orion Pax nodded slowly as if he was wondering if he should.

Aria looked around, feeling much more at ease now that she knew the robot wasn't about to grab her like King Kong or anything. "So is this where you live then?" She asked curiously as she took in the sparse metal room that sort of reminded her of an abandoned car garage with very large furniture, although it was much cleaner than any garage Aria had ever seen.

Orion Pax stared at her again, obviously unsure of what she was saying.

Aria sighed. "This is going to be a lot harder then the movies make you think." She muttered. Then louder she added, "You don't have some kind of translating machine or something by any chance?"

Orion Pax didn't answer.

Aria got a sinking feeling in her stomach again, although, she thought, that might have been partly her sinking blood sugar's fault. "Friendly nanobots or, or a Babel Fish?" She asked, reflexively pulling at her right ear.

But Orion Pax just shook his head and shrugged as if he didn't know what to say because he couldn't understand her.

Aria sighed again and hung her head thoughtfully. "Okay, well let's try this, where am I?" She asked, speaking louder near the end as she pointed at the ground beneath her feet.

Miraculously, Orion Pax seemed to understand what she meant. He pointed at the ground too and said something in a language Aria was pretty sure didn't exist on Earth.

Orion Pax pointed again. "Cybertron." He said, slowly and precisely, like he had said his name.

"Hmm, interesting name for a place," Aria said as she looked around her again. "I mean, I've heard of people naming places before, like old houses and stuff, but usually they make a little more sense, like Northanger Abbey or the White House."

She stopped talking when Orion Pax held out a large hand palm up in front of her as if inviting her to step up.

Aria looked up at Orion Pax like he was insane. "Excuse me?" She asked nervously.

The large robot gestured at her again and pointed at the palm of his hand.

Aria's jaw dropped as she gasped. "Oh, no! No way! Nuh-uh, no how, no way. Not. At. All. I don't do heights. Nuh-uh." She flatly refused, moving her hands wildly in front of her.

But Orion Pax insisted, urgently gesturing her towards his open hand.

Just to make herself clear Aria crossed her arms over her chest and turned away like she was trying to train a dog to quit jumping on her. Not that she thought Orion Pax was a dog. But she did hope that body language would work where words failed.

An odd whirring noise made Aria look over at Orion Pax. She wasn't sure if she was right, but she _thought_ that it was the robot equivalent of a worried noise.

Guilt crept up on Aria without warning. She didn't think he would purposefully hurt her. Aria just didn't like heights. Hadn't ever since she had fallen out of her second story bedroom window when she was seven. Her leg had been in a cast all summer after that.

Seeing her hesitation Orion Pax offered his hand again. He said something Aria didn't catch, but sounded reassuring anyway.

Aria wavered for a moment, not wanting to be higher than a foot off the ground, but she didn't want to upset Orion Pax either. Aside from being frighteningly tall and made entirely of metal, Aria rather liked the bot already.

Aria finally caved. "Oh alright," she grouched, stomping her foot once to show how she felt about this before carefully climbing onto the robot's hand.

She nearly shrieked when he lifted her up, but somehow she clamped her lips together and clung tight to Orion's thumb. Her legs caved almost instantly and she sat there trembling, literally in the palm of his hand, as he carried her across the room towards a window she hadn't noticed before.

"I think I'm going to hurl." Aria murmured, daring to let go of his thumb long enough to clap a hand over her mouth as her stomach threatened to revolt against the sudden movement.

Actually, Orion Pax saw her suddenly pale complexion and moved so slow that if he had crawled he would have gone faster, but Aria didn't notice.

He put her down as gently as he possibly could, but Aria didn't move for a long time, just sat there shivering. It wasn't until he carefully slanted his hand that she even noticed he had stopped moving.

Aria somehow managed to find enough strength in her wobbly legs to touch her feet to the ground. But it took Orion Pax moving his hand so that Aria slid right off for her to get back on her feet.

"Oooo…" Aria groaned once she was back on a solid, non-moving, surface, "I don't feel so good." She moaned as she stuck her head between her knees.

Orion Pax made a concerned noise and knelt down so that he was eye level with her.

"I-I'll be alright," Aria said weakly, "just give me a minute…" she said, lifting her head high enough to give Orion Pax a small smile.

The large robot pointed behind her when she did. Curiously, and still slowly, Aria turned to see what he was pointing at.

She forgot her nausea as soon as she saw the window behind her. With a gasp of amazement, she twisted around to face the view full on. Beyond the window stretched a city the likes of which Aria had never seen before in her life. It was like a giant honeycomb seen from the inside. Even in the science fiction art contest she had entered last year she had never seen anything so, so, so _alien _before.

"Wow…" Aria gasped.

"Cybertron," Orion Pax said again pointing outside.

It finally dawned on Aria. "I'm on a different _planet_." She murmured, looking over her shoulder at the robot Orion Pax. "I'm on _your _planet." She realized. Then she gave a breathless laugh. "I guess that technically makes _me_ the alien." She kept talking, shock overriding her usual brain-to-mouth skills.

A thousand half formed thoughts rushed through Aria's head, none really sticking as she tried to take in what this really meant. But there was really only one thought that her brain could actually finish.

"Huh," she muttered, "well paint me green and call me an alien would you look at that?"


	4. Chapter 4: Diary Entries

*Small note, this is the slightly revised edition, apart from better grammar and upgraded word choice, this is the same as before so go ahead and love it. =D We now return you to your regularly scheduled chapter*

All the hits and reviews I got this last week were _amazing_! I swear my inbox was full of stuff from fanfiction. :D But sadly I'm too tired to show my immense excitement. I don't know how many college students are out there reading this, but its like having two first days of school. It's _exhausting_. But fortunately I think I'm going to really like all my classes, despite the freaking _**twelve books**_ I need for three of them. (XP - This is me dying from book overload)

But anyway, I'm done with classes today and this is a welcome relief. I really like this chapter now that I've edited it. It's not my very favorite (I'll tell you when we get there ;3) but I do like it. n_n So feel free to enjoy (and feel even freer to send me more reviews!). I'd leave more smiley faces, but I think I've overdosed already...

P.S.- Oh! Just in case some of you aren't as familiar with juvenile diabetics as I am (because I sorta won the diabetic lottery back in fourth grade) but this can really happen. Well, minus the large alien robots. But it's actually only been the past few decades that they (diabetics, not the alien robots) didn't _die_ within the first few days of onset. See? Science really _does_ come in handy! So yeah, see ya next week. ;) (Just couldn't resist one more. I think I'm developing an addiction...Mrs. Mittens is worried...)

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I Lost A World!

4 – Diary Entries – 4

The next few days were…interesting.

At least, Aria thought they were days. Time had become more of an invisible weight on her shoulders, like an abstract idea that you only think _might_ exist but aren't really sure about it either way, more than an actual law.

But whether marked time existed or not on this strange world, Aria had already fallen into a predictable, if not strange, pattern.

To give it in the simplest form possible; she played charades with Orion Pax, she looked out the window, and she slept in a hole in the wall that looked like it had been chewed out by a large, metal eating mouse.

Orion Pax was away at the moment, off doing…whatever it was that alien robots did everyday. Orion Pax had made it very clear (or at least as clear as miming could make him) that she should _stay here_ and, so far, Aria hadn't had the mind to disobey him.

_"Who knows," _she thought as she sat once again in the shadowed tunnel mouth that led to the robot's home, _"he might be one of the littler, nicer ones. The rest might just mistake me for a bug and go about their day no more upset than I would be if I had gum on the bottom of my shoe."_

She shivered slightly at the thought of becoming nothing more than a stain on a large metal shoe before looking down at the miniature journal sitting open on her lap. It was small enough to fit in her back pocket, which was where she had found the thing. She must have shoved it in there in her rush to get her and Sera to the movies that night, although she didn't remember doing so. Either way, it was here, and Aria was more than grateful.

After a long moment of uncertainty, Aria picked up the pen that had been slid into the spiral of the blank book and began to write.

_ June 16, 2007 (I think) – 2 days after first contact_

_ I still haven't left Orion Pax's house (if it is a house and not something else), but today I sat and watched out the window for awhile and stared out at the city. He tried to tell me its name, but I couldn't understand it. I'm afraid that most of what he says goes completely over my head, literally as well as metaphorically, although we have improved on our silent communication skills. We don't have to flail our arms as much, although there's still a lot of pointing. n_n; Anyway, I saw some others of Orion's race out the window, although neither were as tall as him. I wonder if that means anything? They were just walking down the street, just like at home. I think they were arguing over something, but for all I know their equivalent of the Red Sox lost again. It was still sort of mind blowing though. I just can't believe on another _planet_._

She underlined, boxed, and starred the last word to try and visually show just how crazy it sounded, but the paper didn't have room for that much underlining. When she had run out of room, she leaned back against the wall of the tunnel and sighed.

"What am I going to _do_?" She whispered.

...

_ June 19, 2007 – 5 days after first contact_

_ Still haven't gone outside. Still don't want to. I may not be the expert on alien life forms (although considering I'm the only that's met one, I assume, I guess I'm better than anyone else. Although if I told anyone back home about this they would write me off as a crackpot. I know I would), but things here seem…tense. Orion Pax especially seems on edge. But then again, he has an alien in his living room. Maybe that's all it is. Maybe I'm just reading too much into things. I mean, I know that, for some freakish reason, their body language, or at least Orion Pax's, is markedly similar to ours, but maybe they have different meanings for it than us humans. Like how chimpanzees smile when they're afraid._

_ Then, as if I don't have enough to freak out over, my insulin is running out. My blood sugar's still in the one hundreds, but I doubt it'll stay that way for long. Dang it all I need that! I don't know if any other human will find this or if they understand my predicament, but without insulin, my blood sugar's gonna kill me. Literally. I'll start throwing up until there's nothing left, forget about eating. I've had ketoacidosis before and it sucks even when you know you're going to get better. Man, why couldn't someone without a disease get stuck out here?_

_ Still no sign of Sera either. I'm really scared for her. I keep praying she's alright, but I just don't know if she is. Mom and Dad thought she was too young to have a cell phone, and I must have left my at home because its not here, so it's not like I can call her up. Ha! Can you imagine that voice message? "Hey Sera, just wondering if you're alright, you know, after we were abducted to robo-planet and all. If you need to find me I'm at the second hole in the wall on the left with an alien named Orion Pax. You can't miss him; he's taller than the house and wearing red and blue paint. Alright, hope you're okay, love you, bye!"_

_ Yeah, not going to happen._

_ Although I wish it could._

_..._

_ June 21, 2007 – 7 days after F.C.; Blood sugar - 257_

_ Still inside, still no Sera. I've been using my last insulin sparingly – which works out because the things Orion Pax brings me to eat usually taste like dirt, although he did manage to find something that, oddly enough, tastes like a granola bar. You know, the ones that taste like cardboard, but they still serve their purpose. Fortunately water doesn't seem to be a problem. I think it's some kind of byproduct of something here, which seems weird, but that sometimes happens at home too doesn't it? _

_ Anyway, I guess they don't grow food here like humans, but then that makes more sense then if they did – but I'm starting to feel really, _really_ sick. I've tried to explain to Orion that I've got to find my sister and get home, but he doesn't understand. Usually he says something that sounds like that noise a computer makes when it's freaking out mixed with the scream of a boiling kettle, so I don't understand what he's trying to explain either. I think he does know that I didn't come here alone, but just doesn't know where to start looking. Yeesh, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy made talking to aliens so _easy_. Where's _my_ Babel Fish huh?_

_..._

_ June 22, 2007 – 8 days after F.C.; Blood sugar - 467_

_ I started throwing up today. No insulin left now either. Man, I'm so dead! And there's nothing I can do about it either. All I can do is sit in my tunnel and listen to my Ipod, which fortunately was in my other pocket. Huzzah! Thank you God! At least I can still understand my music._

_ I think Orion Pax knows something's wrong now. I guess robots don't exactly consider puking a good thing either. Not that I've seen him eat like I do, although I have seen him, eh, drinking, I guess you could say, something that reminded me of oil, although the smell was off. He tried offering me some once, but then I was sick in the corner and he took it as a no._

_ I saw some more robotic beings out the window today. I don't think it was the same ones I saw the other day, but it could have been. The only differences I can tell between these beings is Orion Pax versus Not Orion Pax. What? He's the only I see on a constant basis._

_ Anyway, these two were arguing for sure. About what I don't know, but they were. Waving their hands and shouting so loud I could hear them from the window. Orion Pax was there that time and I thought that he was worried about whatever it was they were yelling about too, although I'll be darned if I know what it is. I kind of have other things on my mind right now anyway._

_ Ugh, I'm starting to feel more nauseous again. Got to go lay down now. Pray this is over soon one way or another. I _hate_ feeling like this._

_..._

_June 23 – Day 9; B.S. (yes ha ha very funny) Over 500_

_ No Sera. No insulin. No hope. O.P. worried. Don't need to understand him to know that. Kind of funny, I was worried about running out of glucose tabs and now my blood sugar's over five hundred. My meter just says HI now. It can't count high enough to give me an actual number._

_..._

_ June 24 – Day 10; B.S. - HI_

_ Feel too sick to move. Just want to sleep this away but can't. Feel too gross. Oh God just make it **stop**_~

The pen slid out of Aria's hand, leaving a squiggle behind her already poorly written plea. Listlessly, she stared after it, too sick to try and pick it up again.

_"What does it even matter?" _she thought sluggishly, _"I'm going to die here anyway. Puking my guts out with no help or hope for it. Oh God…"_ She had been thinking that a lot lately it seemed, but if God heard her, he hadn't answered yet. Of course she had heard that He worked in His own time. Aria just hoped that it would be in time to save her from the certain death she felt following at the heels of the aches, pains, and general but enormous misery that came with blood sugars this high. She felt so thirsty, her tongue sticking to the top of her mouth with cement-like spit, but even if there had been any water nearby she just couldn't bring herself to drink anything. Every little motion sent new waves of nausea and pain through her poor body.

_"Oh God…"_ she thought again, wanting to cry, but out of enough body fluid to do it, _"help me…"_

Then she closed her eyes, hoping to sleep through what she felt certain would be her last few hours of misery.

Mercifully, she fell asleep almost immediately, so she didn't see the large hand that reached into the hole to gently pick her up.


	5. Chapter 5: A Change in View

Whew, done. Mrs. Mittens is giving me the evil eye for my tardiness (^-.-^), but still, done. I wasn't so sure of this chapter at first, I will admit, but after Destinyswindow's review (major, major thank you! You are so awesome! You make Mrs. Mittens stop glaring at me for joy see? ^n.n^), and some major revision, I knew it was necessary. It also became much more interesting (_I_ think) and quite a bit longer with the overhaul so yay. I think I managed to answer most of the cough14cough reviews (you can tell what makes me squeak in girlish excitement all of Wednesday can't you n_n;) I got but in case you were one of the ones I missed (and still plan to answer later) I shout out an extremely loud THANK YOU!

Now for a few needed notes. Remember how I said I was fairly heavily influenced by the book Transfomrers: Exodus by Alex Irvine at the first chapter? Well here's where you can really see it come into play. For starter's Megatron's speech a little bit down, the one in italics, is printed word for word so i take no credit. It just fit so nicely I went and put it in, that and being late enough with posting made me slightly lazy. Also, the overall Cybertronian society is from there too. But really you don't need to read the book to now what's going on. I've explained what I want to be understood (and hopefully I did it well.)

That, and I made some slight changes to chapter four. Just word choice and grammer mind so you don't strictly _have_ to go back and read it again. I just added things like 'dirt' and added an s or d somewhere to actually complete a word...n_n; Anyway, enjoy the new enstallment and feel free to tell me what you think. Later!

...

I Lost A World!

5 – A Change in View – 5

Life for Orion Pax was not really what you would call adventurous. His life in the great city of Iacon was uneventful to say the least, although the recent unrest within the city had added some—how had Jazz put it?—spice to everyday life. Still, the changing times hadn't altered the data clerk's normal habits at or away from the Hall of Records where he worked to file and sort the uncountable amount of information that came through the worldwide DataNet each and every orbital cycle.

To put it very bluntly – he was a librarian.

Even on Cybertron, no one exactly dreamed of becoming a librarian when they grew up. It was one of the things adolescents there shared with those on Earth. However there hadn't been much of a choice for Orion Pax. Not really a choice for any sentient, dreaming being on Cybertron at all, actually. Unlike what the comic books and Earthlings with questionable mental health (and possible drug addictions) told the masses, not all alien cultures were utopian, or even that much better, than those found on Earth. Maybe if they had seen Cybertron millennia ago, when legends and myths still walked the galaxy and Cybertron had been the crowning jewel in a grand empire, the comic book artists and people spinning abduction stories at the local diner could have had a well earned, "HA! In your unbelieving faces!" but not now. Now Cybertron and its people were bound by the iron law of the caste. Living and dying in a perfect state of immobility.

That was what had this gladiator, the self designated Megatron, so riled up. As one of the lowest classes, Megatron knew first hand what the full force of the caste system could do; how far it could imprison a bot with its unwritten laws and restrictions. Just that day Orion Pax had found another video of the unbeaten gladiator Megatron speaking the other mechs that fought in the gladiator pits of Kaon into a frenzy. _"Are Cybertronians not all made of the same materials? My alloys are the same as those in the frame of a High Councilor; my lubricants are the same as those that lubricated the joints of the Thirteen themselves!"_ He had yelled, his voice only diminished by the speakers at Orion Pax's workstation.

The data clerk found this new voice interesting, but at the same time, for reasons he could not describe, Megatron also unsettled him.

So far Orion Pax had gone through his life with the same non-ambitious thought that most others had, and even with Megatron's thought provoking words, he still saw no reason to change his ways now. Cybertron had remained in social stasis like this for longer then anyone functional could remember. Who was he to try and change it? No one, that's who. And even if, say, he _did _want to try – and he hadn't said he did – who on the planet would be crazy enough to listen to him in the first place? He was not a warrior like Megatron, who had never lost a match to date. Orion Pax was just a librarian, a fact he was painfully and increasingly aware of every waking cycle. No, best just to stay where he was, head down, questions held in, than to get mixed up in the unpredictable and strange.

Maybe that was why it was such a shock when he found an alien in his home one orbit.

The little creature caught him completely off guard. He just turned around and there it was, smaller than his hand and stranger than anything he had ever heard of, and he had heard of a lot in his time at the Hall of Records. He was so stunned that he lost his footing and landed hard enough on the floor to send a cascade of scrap metal that he had shoved out of the way on a high shelf down on top of the little being.

There was a loud clang, followed by a long moment of silence where Orion Pax feared that the tiny creature had been extinguished by the falling mess.

But no, it had appeared another long moment later, optics wide and small frame quaking from head to foot. The little being had stared at him with what he thought was uncertainty before climbing down the face of the cabinets below the counter, occasionally looking behind it to look at him again. Then when it had finally reached the floor, it had stared at him some more. Although something akin to wonder or curiosity had taken the place of its former hesitation.

They spent a long cycle staring at each other.

Of course Orion Pax knew that there were other races out there from the records of long ago when all of the space bridges had functioned instead of the single one that still flickered in the distance surrounding Iacon, but never had he dreamed of meeting another form of life. And even if he had, he still never would have expected it to be quite like this.

It was so _tiny_, he reflected in the silence, and soft looking. Definitely not made of the same alloys as he was. Maybe not even made of alloys at all.

Orion Pax frowned thoughtfully at the idea. Hadn't he read something about creatures that were not made of metal before? They had been called, ah, organics! Yes, that was the word. Whatever it was, the small creature standing before him was composed of organic materials.

As he watched, the organic being pulled a container out of a pocket near its hip (if they were hips anyway), opened it, and put one of the contents inside what Orion Pax could only assume was its mouth. Then it mumbled something around the whatever-it-was in a language Orion Pax had never heard spoken before.

Orion Pax could only give a short, disbelieving laugh as he stared down at the glitch-mouse sized creature in staggering amazement. "An organic is in my workroom." He muttered, more than surprised.

What in the world was he supposed to do with _that_?

_"Nothing"_ was quickly the safest answer. If Orion Pax was nervous about the fact of stirring up trouble just by expressing his opinions, how would he feel if he introduced an alien, organic being to the whole of Cybertron society? And besides, the little speck of a creature had seemed afraid just by his presence, and he was nothing to be afraid of, especially compared to some of the more violent mechs out there stirring up trouble. No, he quickly decided, whatever he did he couldn't let anyone else know about the creature's presence.

_"Simple enough,"_ Orion Pax thought as he silently watched the little being in a mix of awe and lingering shock. _"I just won't tell anyone."_

His thoughts were interrupted by the little organic. It was saying something. Orion Pax listened closely, but he could make neither heads nor tails of the creature's smooth, drawn out language. Briefly he wondered if he should even try and communicate with the little being, but then decided that proper nouns, like his name, should be safe enough in translation. Probably.

"I'm afraid I do not understand you little one, but I am designated Orion Pax. Do you have a designation or title that I should address you by?" He asked, trying to remain polite.

But the little organic didn't say anything, just tilted its head and stared at him curiously.

Forgoing polite, Orion Pax went for simple instead. "I am Orion Pax," he told the being concisely.

The organic still didn't speak.

"Orion. Pax." He said again, slower, still not willing to give up quite yet.

The being spoke, trying to imitate his words.

He said his name again. This time the little organic's imitations were passable. On the fourth repetition, understanding lit up the creature's blue optics and it pointed up at him as it spoke his name.

Pleased, Orion Pax clapped and nodded. "Very good." He said, just incase the creature really could understand him, which seemed less and less likely by the cycle.

After repeating the same process in reverse, Orion Pax found that the little organic's alias was Ariah.

"Strange name," he mused softly to himself, "I wonder if it means anything specific."

Ariah was speaking again, asking him something, Orion Pax thought, but he had no idea what. It pointed at the floor beneath its feet with a confused gesture and yet another realization sent Orion Pax reeling.

_ "It doesn't know where it is!" _He thought, feeling somewhere between amused and stunned now. "You're on Cybertron, organic Ariah," then again, just to be sure, "Cybertron."

Ariah looked around her, babbling something incomprehensible to Orion Pax's auditory sensors, but he could tell the little organic still didn't understand. He thought about picking it up right then, but given the self-awareness the tiny being seemed to have he thought it might be better to give warning first. So he held out his hand for the bipedal Ariah to step onto, slowly motioning for his surprise guest to get on so as not to alarm whatever internal systems organics possessed.

It did not go over very well.

Orion Pax wasn't sure why Ariah resisted his offer until he had finally managed to convince the organic creature to step on. Without much thought he stood up, lifting Ariah into the air.

He may not have understood the organic frame he held, but Orion Pax had read enough about other carbon based life forms to realize that it probably should not have turned that pale, or that quickly. He tried to tread slowly enough to comfort little Ariah, but the creature only wrapped its two thin, upper limbs around his fifth digit and held on as if for dear life.

"Primus, you are so _small_," Orion Pax whispered as he set the little creature down near the window that looked out onto the golden hued city of Iacon. The organic's tiny frame felt so delicate, so breakable, in his large hand that he was afraid just to set Ariah down.

Orion Pax didn't need words to realize the exact moment that Ariah understood where she was. Or maybe, where she wasn't.

"I wonder where it is you came from little Ariah," Orion Pax muttered softly as he looked out the window with the gaping Ariah. Before them stretched Iacon, its interlocking towers forming hexagonal grids above and below them, all the way down to the actual surface of Cybertron. Distantly, Orion Pax wondered if Ariah's planet looked much like his, or if an entirely different kind of city had arisen there.

_ "If they even have cities," _Orion Pax thought, _"the word may mean something completely different to them."_

These sorts of thoughts, about organic life, about Ariah's culture, and especially about different planets, filled Orion Pax's processors the next few orbital cycles, shoving away his previous unease over Megatron and his followers in the process. Often he would ask Ariah questions even though he knew the little organic couldn't understand him. However, sometimes he would be awarded with a smile or a laugh or some other expressive gesture that would encourage him to ask more untranslatable questions.

"Your race seems to have much more expressive features then mine does," Orion Pax reflected out loud a few orbital cycles later. "Does it make communication that much easier? It seems like it could be rather difficult to me." He told the organic where she sat on his counter top, legs dangling absentmindedly over the edge.

But Ariah did not grin at him like he had hoped (such an intriguing expression, grinning) just stared down at something she held in her lap.

"Ariah?" Orion Pax asked, some concern showing through his voice. "Are you alright?"

Ariah looked up at him and gave a half sparked smile. Then she held out a vial made of glass. Small as it was, Orion Pax could still see the clear liquid swishing around inside of it.

Ariah said something, her usually upbeat voice low and serious.

Curious, Orion Pax scanned the bottle and its contents. It was a simple compound that could be used to break down the chemical structure of an organic material he remembered from the records was called glucose. But why did Ariah have it in a bottle?

"Why do you have that?" Orion Pax asked, still curious.

Ariah spoke three syllables, "In-soo-lin," very carefully, but their meaning was lost on Orion Pax. He tried repeating the word, but that did not appease the little organic. If anything, Ariah seemed more upset by his lack of understanding. The strange little being kept running the digits on her left hand through the mass of hair that covered her crown.

"I'm sorry," Orion Pax finally said. He meant it very sincerely. Whatever this In-soo-lin was, it was very important to Ariah. He just couldn't figure out why.

...

It was after that that Orion Pax began to notice his little house guest's deteriorating condition. It was slow at first, just a few instances of unusual behavior on Ariah's part. But then the instances of sloth and pained looks on Ariah's face began to become more and more frequent. Then he had noticed an odd smell coming from the organic's mouth when Ariah spoke; an unpleasant, sweet and fermented kind of aroma that Orion Pax did not find at all comforting.

Orion Pax wasn't completely sure, but he thought little Ariah was sick.

The thought worried him greatly. If Ariah's frame had been more like his, he would have just taken her to a mechasurgeon, but he highly doubted that her organic body would handle discarding malfunctioning parts and replacing them with new ones as well as his frame did. And besides that, he didn't know any surgeons well enough to trust them with the little organic's safety. He couldn't bring himself to endanger the sick little being like that, especially now when whatever errant piece of code she had caught had left her so weak.

"No, that's definitely out," Orion Pax thought out loud as he looked over at the frail organic. Ariah was sitting just inside the opening of the previously unimportant hole in his wall, writing in some sort of paper book. An inefficient system if you asked him, but understandable under the circumstances he thought. It was probably wise not to expose her presence through the DataNet anyway, which would happen if he had shown her how to use the data pads most Cybertronians used to record and send data.

Ariah must have felt him staring because she turned her head and waved at him. She seemed well enough for the moment anyway.

"I suppose it's not too important right now. I'm sure it's just a little code, nothing to worry that much over. She should be fine in a few orbits." He told himself. "And if she does get worse, well, I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it."

That bridge came a lot sooner than he had feared.

The next orbital cycle he returned from the Hall of Records to find his organic guest crouched down in the little tunnel she had taken up residence in, vomiting digestive juices on the ground.

Horrified, Orion Pax tried to do what he could for the ailing creature, but he just didn't know enough about her physiology to be of much help.

"Maybe this is a one time occurrence," Orion Pax said worriedly as he watched the now shivering organic as she recovered from her bout of sickness. Then he remembered an old record he had once read during his usual sorting in the Hall of Records, something about the necessary requirements for organics to live. There had been water and various nutrients which he had remembered earlier and done his best to provide, but it had also said they required sunlight to make energy.

Orion Pax looked over at the window, then back at Ariah who had almost recovered from her spell apart from some shakiness and overly pale features, and then he looked back at the window.

"Well I don't see why it shouldn't work." The mech muttered as he stepped toward Aria and held out his hand for her to climb onto again.

Her illness must have really taken the strength out of the little organic, because she didn't even argue when she saw his waiting hand, just crawled on slowly and laid down after putting her arms tightly around one of his fingers.

Orion Pax looked down at her in concern. "I hope this works, no matter how crazy it sounds." He murmured to himself as he crossed the room and set Ariah down.

She crawled onto the window sill just as slowly as she had climbed off the counter. Then, as Orion Pax watched curiously, she found a nice ray of late orbit sunlight and sat down, soaking up the distant warmth through the window.

"Interesting," Orion Pax mused as he watched Ariah, just in case she took another turn for the worse. "Who knew that organics were solar powered."

Ariah just closed her eyes and ignored him.

She had just slipped into a light recharge when a loud shout shocked them both, although Ariah was the only one that jumped up off of the ground. Orion Pax noticed her optics were wide as one of her hands flew to the left side of her chest feeling some internal part react to the sudden shock. She was looking around wildly for the source of the noise, but the mech turned his gaze toward the window instead.

"Sounds like a fight," Orion Pax muttered just before he caught sight of the two mechs on the far side of the street. They were arguing loud enough that Orion Pax didn't need to strain to make out what they were saying.

"You've finally gone and glitched haven't you?" The first one, the one that had shouted before, yelled at his companion. "You're actually _listening_ to that crazed gladiator?"

The second mech looked distinctly offended. "So what if I do? And he's right about a lot of things. The High Council and the Guild heads go on and on about the different castes and how they're good for us, but it's not like the Thirteen ever said this is the way things have got to be. For all we know, they hated the idea of the caste. We could be doing the wrong thing just because some mechs don't want to get their plates dirty."

The first mech vented a derisive snort and waved away his companion's words like they were nothing important before he began walking again.

The two mechs had almost disappeared down the far end of the street when Orion Pax turned toward Ariah. She was sitting again, her small upper limbs wrapped around her torso as she stared up at him, her curiosity showing despite her subdued nature.

"This Megatron seems to be stirring up more trouble than I first anticipated." He told partly to her and partly to himself. "Did you know he is trying to disband the caste system altogether? A very difficult feat since it has been engrained in our society since before even Alpha Trion was created. He is the Archivist at the Hall of Records and the oldest mech I know of." Orion Pax told Ariah.

Ariah, for her part, looked up at him, listening intently even though he knew she did not comprehend his language.

"Know something else?" Orion Pax murmured at the oblivious creature, grateful for the chance to get this off his chest, "I'm not even sure he's wrong. Megatron that is, not Alpha Trion."

Ariah began to look very tired, but she nodded at him anyway, as if she agreed with him.

Orion Pax cracked a smile. "You are very odd young Ariah, but I appreciate you listening to a dust coated librarian such as myself." He said. Then before he could second guess himself, he reached out a careful finger and gently rubbed at Ariah's head, like he had seen guardians do to their younglings when they wished to show affection. The little organic's whole body rocked from side to side, but a small laugh broke through her weary face and Orion Pax felt glad he had confessed his opinions to his smallest and newest friend.

"I only hope you will be better soon little Ariah. I do not like seeing viral codes like this running you down. You should take better care of yourself." Orion Pax gently chided her, unaware of the slight irony in his statement.

But then, despite his fervent hope that she would soon be well, Ariah only worsened in the following orbital cycles.

Orion Pax's processors were nearly inverted with worry. He felt certain that if she continued on like this, the little organic's spark, or what passed for it, would fade, leaving behind only an empty shell.

With that horrible thought running through his mind, Orion Pax made his decision. He couldn't just let the defenseless Ariah waste away, not when she needed him so drastically. He had to find someone, anyone, that could help the little organic creature, but who could he trust with her existence? Anyone? Anyone at all?

One name came to mind before any others even had a chance to present themselves. Nodding decisively, Orion Pax gently picked up the unconscious Ariah from where she had been writing in her tunnel, her now limp form sending a fresh wave of worry through his spark. Carefully, he held her in both hands, shielding her from sight, before hurriedly walking out the door, sending an urgent message as he did.


	6. Chapter 6: Crowd Control

Whew, Tuesday already and the first one of the month to boot. n_n I'm trying to cut down on these rambly top notes so let's see if I can express my extreme happiness at all those amazing reviews, alerts, favs, and somewhat wild guesses at what's about to happen. Umm, oh! Wait, that'll do quite nicely. Ta-da! n_n;

Another quick note is that I used Cybertronian time units here, to the best of my understanding anyway, so an orbit=day, cycle=minute, and I think I used joor to mean hours, but I don't remember that one very well. I got this all from (ugh it won't let me put the web address in here and I've tried 3 times, so just send me a note or something if you want to know the site) by searching for 'units of time' if you want to look it up. They had a nice big ol' list that explained everything, mostly...

Oh, and just because I can say it - my very favorite bot from the cartoon is the second one you meet. XD He's just so awesome! And his explosions are so much fun to write. ^,,^ Oops, Mrs. Mittens is giving me sideways looks to say I've said to much! *Gasp!* Better let you go so you can find out for yourself. So now with all the ceremony (and not-lateness! Yes!) I can muster here is _**my very favorite chapter ever!**_

...

I Lost A World!

6 – Crowd Control – 6

Jazz was already waiting when Orion Pax hurried up to the old, out of the way building that stood in the more disused sector of the city. If Orion Pax hadn't been so distracted by Ariah recharging fitfully out of sight in his hands, he would have noticed the smaller mech's mix of curiosity and unease. Orion Pax's message had sounded more than a little urgent, which in and of itself was out of place. He was usually so calm.

"About time you got here," Jazz said when Orion Pax was finally close enough to hear him, "you tell me to get over here and then you take your own sweet time doing the same," he prodded as his friend walked up to him, but when he didn't rise to the bait, Jazz gave up, for the moment.

"Alright, what's so important then?" He asked when Orion Pax didn't say anything. "And why are you walking when whatever-it-is is so urgent?" Jazz asked, trying to make sense of what was going on.

Orion Pax opened his mouth to explain, and froze. Despite her physically small presence, Ariah turned 'it's complicated' into a tremendously large understatement. Where should he even start to explain everything?

If there was a beginning at all, Orion Pax couldn't find it. It was times like these where he wished he was better with verbal communications. He made a frustrated noise, making Jazz raise his optic ridges.

"No help for it then," Orion Pax muttered before he opened his cupped hands, exposing the restless organic lying in his palm.

Orion saw the shock flit across the other mech's face when he realized what Ariah was. Or sort of did, at least.

"What is _that_?" Jazz asked, quieter now as he peered down at the miserable organic. Despite his low tone, his voice was no less shocked than how Orion Pax remembered feeling when he had first seen Ariah appearing out of the previously unimportant hole in his wall that some glitch-mouse had chewed orns ago.

"I'm not really sure," Orion Pax admitted, keeping his voice low despite their deserted surroundings, "but she's not from Cybertron."

Jazz gave him the universal look for 'you think?' "But how'd it get here? I doubt it just wandered in from the cold," he said with a broad gesture at the space above them where one of the two moons was already visible in the low hanging sky.

Orion shrugged, not thinking it too important at the moment. "I don't know. But I think she's ill," he finally said, getting to the point.

Disbelief crept into Jazz's optics. "Ill? And you know this how exactly?"

Frustrated, Orion Pax held out the hand with Ariah. The little organic was shivering now, so hard that the little bones in her mouth chattered together noisily. She still hadn't woken up, but that disconcerting, fermenting-fruit smell was stronger than before. "Because she wasn't like this a few orbital cycles ago. She was conscious for one thing and-"

"A few orbits?" Jazz interrupted, stunned. "How long has it been here O.P.?" He asked, suddenly feeling something akin to worry.

Orion Pax thought about it, wondering what this had to do with Ariah's health. "About ten orbits, maybe an orn," he finally said, "why?"

Jazz was not a mech given over to anxiety, or worry of any kind actually, but recent events had even him on edge. "Why?" he asked somewhat incredulously as he swept an arm out at the city beyond them, "How about the planet is going to Pit in a storage bin? Did you know there was another riot over in Slaughter City the other orbit led by a bunch of gladiators calling themselves Decepticons? If I were a hostile alien interested in taking over the world, I would be thinking this would be the perfect time to move in for a closer look. For all we know, that thing was sent by the Quintessons," he said, voicing what he felt was a very real fear as he pointed down at Ariah.

Ariah gave a weak little moan and limply flopped over on her other side. She whimpered pitifully before settling deeper into her sickly recharge.

Orion Pax looked back up at Jazz. "Yes, because she's the ideal image of Quintesson slavery." He said, managing to hold back most of his sarcasm.

Jazz still wasn't convinced, but the fact that it was Orion Pax pressing the issue made him think twice about the organic's possibly hostile presence. There were only a handful of times he had ever seen the librarian show enthusiasm for anything, and none of them had been exactly trivial. Jazz had learned over vorns they had been friends that when Orion Pax spoke strongly about something, listening usually paid off.

Jazz vented a sigh and moved restlessly as he thought, firmly pushing aside his disquiet. "Alright," he finally conceded, "I'll trust you on this." Then he gave the sick organic another thoughtful look as Orion Pax waited, somewhat patiently.

Finally, Jazz got an idea. "I think I know a mech that can help."

...

Orion Pax didn't personally recognize the sector of the city they were currently rolling through, although from the DataNet he knew they were in the medical district. He felt somewhat out of place as he followed Jazz in his alt-form, Ariah stowed away safely out of sight in his cab.

As they made their way through the crowds of mechs and femmes around them, Orion Pax couldn't help but look around. He had never been in this part of the city since it was mainly dominated by the offices that ran the rest of the sector and the emergency centers. And it wasn't exactly like he had a high risk position in life.

In front of him, Jazz turned onto a new street. It was emptier than the previous one Orion Pax saw when he followed him, lined with solid looking buildings meant more for storage rather than offices. As Jazz stopped in front of one of the buildings, Orion Pax wondered what they were doing here. If anything, he would have thought that Jazz's help would be in one of the emergency care centers rather then in one of the outlying buildings. As he waited for Jazz to remove Ariah from his cab so he could transform back into his bipedal form, Orion Pax wondered if maybe this was just their way in. All of the structures around here were interlocked in one way or another, Orion Pax realized, so they could just be using the back door to avoid unwanted attention.

Jazz led the way to a door that looked just like any of the others, except maybe a little more banged up around the edges than the one next door. As they were waiting for whoever was here to answer the door, a loud blast suddenly exploded from inside.

Orion Pax's unease doubled instantly. "What was that?" He asked.

Jazz didn't answer, just slowly shook his head as thick, black smoke started pouring out of the cracks around the door.

Orion Pax was just beginning to wonder if he should be looking elsewhere for help when he heard loud, hacking coughs, mixed with a handful of abrasive curses, coming from inside. He slanted Jazz a questioning look when the door slid open, letting large clouds of black smoke billow out.

A figure appeared with them. When the smoke finally turned from choking black to dark gray, Orion Pax saw that it was a mech of sturdy build, taller than Jazz but shorter than himself painted white and green, although it was difficult to tell with all the black grit coating his frame. He squinted at them, but didn't recognize his visitors until he wiped the sooty grit off of his optics.

"Jazz?" the dirt covered mech asked as he went about dusting himself off, "what are you doing here?"

Jazz jerked a digit at Orion Pax. "Friend of mine needs some help. I was hoping you could oblige." Then he peered deeper into the smoky building, a smirk creeping onto his face. "Blow yourself up again Wheeljack?" He asked cheekily.

Wheeljack huffed indignantly, but looked a bit embarrassed all the same. "I don't know what you're talking about 'again'. It was just a little explosion. I didn't even lose a limb this time." He replied defensively.

That did _not_ make Orion Pax feel any better.

Wheeljack seemed to finally realize that Orion Pax was there, despite Jazz's previous pointing. "This your friend then?" he asked with a jerk of his head at the taller mech.

"Yep," Jazz said, "Wheeljack, Orion Pax. Orion Pax, Wheeljack, resident mad inventor of the area." He announced before turning back to Wheeljack. "You gonna let us in or what? It looks like most of the smoke's cleared out," he said gesturing at the now nearly visible hall behind the inventor.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," the sturdy mech half turned and waved them in, "here, come see what I'm working on now." He said excitedly, leading the way inside.

Orion Pax slanted a look at Jazz when the inventor's back was turned. "Mad inventor?" He muttered quietly in disbelief.

Jazz waved away the unspoken concern. "Don't let it bother you too much. He's actually very good."

Orion Pax gave the remaining smoke a meaningful look, but closed the door behind him nevertheless, careful to hold Ariah above the smoke just in case it had the same effect on her as it did on the still hacking Wheeljack.

"It's right in here," Wheeljack called over his shoulder. "I've been thinking on what you said last time about the hair trigger and-"

"Sorry Wheeljack, but O.P.'s got kind of a pressing matter on his hands." Jazz said with a look at the organic his friend was still carrying.

Orion Pax rolled his optics at him, but didn't say anything as they came out into a large, square room lined with shelves and storage bins and completely littered with tools and pieces of what looked like junk to Orion Pax. He also noticed that the walls that weren't covered with the inventor's paraphernalia bore the marks of recent, and more powerful, explosions then the one they had just heard.

_"Primus help me."_ He thought dismally.

"Really?" Wheeljack asked as he cleared still smoking debris off of an apparently very sturdy table in the middle of the room. "Well, what is it then?"

Orion Pax looked over at Jazz, asking one final time if this was really his idea of help. Then, venting a sigh, he held out the sick little organic where the inventor could see her.

The inventor frowned thoughtfully down at Ariah. "What do you want me to do with-" he trailed off in mid sentence, optics going wide as his sensors began to understand that the prone little figure was _alive_.

He quickly huddled closer. "An organic?" He asked incredulously. "A living, functioning organic being?"

Orion Pax nodded slowly, a little unnerved by the inventor's sudden enthusiasm.

Wheeljack coughed again, but with more excitement now rather than smoke inhalation. "A real organic," he murmured, amazed, peering closer. He scrutinized Ariah a moment longer before looking up curiously at Orion Pax. "Is it supposed to be that still?" he asked.

"No," Orion Pax told him, "and I believe Ariah is a she, not an 'it'." He told the inventor, and then at Jazz's inquisitive glance added, "She acts like a femme."

Jazz shook his head with a smile, but Wheeljack didn't question the librarian's opinion, just stared at Ariah with curious optics. "An organic femme," he murmured to himself, "fascinating." Then, "But what's wrong with her?"

"She's sick," Jazz told him, "and I thought that you, med caste that you are, could figure out how to help her."

"Sure, sure," Wheeljack said too quickly, "well, I mean there's a reason they don't let me in the main building anymore, but I can try anyway. Just set her on the table there and I'll…figure something out."

Orion Pax was sure he felt a headache coming on, and it wasn't just from the leftover smoke.

He had just managed to slide Ariah off of his palm and onto the relatively clean surface of the table when a door farther back in the building opened with a bang, somewhat startling Orion Pax and Jazz.

"Wheeljack!" A loud, irritated voice boomed through the hallway, "What in the Pit was that? I swear if you've blown yourself up again I'm going to leave you in so many pieces that not even Preceptor will be able to put you back together! Then I'm going to-"

The new mech stopped cold when he rounded the corner and saw, not the wreckage he was expecting, but Wheeljack and two others staring at him as if he had lost his mind. He was from an older generation, Orion Pax saw, and had the red cross of a mechasurgeon painted on his shoulder.

"Nice to see you too Ratchet," Wheeljack said into the somewhat awkward silence, "you're just in time. Come and take a look at this."

Ratchet eyed the worktable warily. "What is it, exactly?" He asked with a good amount of suspicion born of self preservation. He had been friends with Wheeljack for a long time after all.

"Nothing explosive," Wheeljack told him truthfully enough.

Ratchet still didn't look convinced. "You say that about half of the stuff you make and I'm _still_ down here more than twice an orbit." He snapped, but then his curiosity got the best of him and he came forward. "So what is it really?" He asked leaning over to see what everyone was staring at. He gave a startled shout when he did.

"Is that-?" He started to ask.

"Yes," Wheeljack said with an excited smile.

"But how?"

Wheeljack gestured at Orion Pax, who was still standing silently by the table. "Ask him. He brought her in,"

Ratchet squinted over at Orion Pax. "And who are you?" He asked a bit suspiciously.

Orion Pax thought he understood why. Interests outside of one's caste weren't encouraged. Strictly speaking they weren't even discouraged; more like the idea was stomped out flat and, sometimes, depending on the extent of the interest, punishable by the Guild heads that ran the different castes. If the head of the medical guild found out that Wheeljack was back here exploding things – technically an activity that belonged more to the scientific castes – instead of working in one of the actual medical centers (although Orion Pax thought he could see why they wouldn't let him in anymore), the inventor could be in big trouble.

Before Orion Pax could think of what to say, Jazz stepped up. "He's a friend of mine," he said firmly, "Orion Pax. He works down at the Hall of Records. Apparently the little organic just showed up in his workroom about an orn ago and then it got sick from something."

The older medic peered down at Ariah lying on the table top, his curiosity slowly overriding his general suspicion. "Sick eh? From what?"

"I don't know," Orion Pax admitted, trying to remember if he had seen anything that could have made her sick. "It was a few orbital cycles before she started acting different."

"Different how?" Ratchet asked professionally as he leaned down closer to Ariah, quietly running scans to try and make sense of her organic form.

Orion Pax thought it over briefly. "She stopped speaking as much, and moving, and then she started vomiting. And then she started breathing out an odd scent."

"Odd?" Wheeljack spoke up, experimentally sniffing the air, "she smells kind of sweet to me."

"That wasn't there when she first showed up." Orion Pax insisted.

Ratchet made a perplexed noise in the back of his vocal processor. "I don't know enough about this form of life to understand what's wrong," he muttered, "maybe if she would wake up so I could speak with her," he suggested, gently prodding Ariah with a long digit.

The alien on the table groaned and rolled over. She blindly searched for something on the tabletop before her hand landed on a scrap of cleaning cloth. With another pained moan she pulled the rag over her head and curled up into a ball.

"She doesn't speak our language." Orion Pax told them. "I've managed to teach her a few words, but there's no shared basis between our speech and hers."

Before any of the others could say anything, Ariah groaned again and opened her eyes. For a moment she only gazed blearily at the four metal faces staring down at her. Orion Pax snuck a look at the other mechs' reactions – which ranged from awed to bewilderment to barely repressed excitement – before he looked back down at Ariah.

Slowly, very slowly, she crawled up on her elbows and then managed to push herself halfway into a sitting position before she froze, not daring to move for another few kliks as her stomach re-settled. Carefully, as if he was afraid of startling her, Wheeljack reached out a digit for her to pull herself up with. She only made it up a few more inches before she gave up and just leaned against the inventor's sturdy finger, dragging the filthy rag up around her shoulders with her.

"She's so small," Wheeljack muttered, "I mean, I've seen sparklings that are larger than her."

Ratchet nodded as Ariah fiddled with her makeshift blanket. A moment later she pulled out that bottle she had showed Orion Pax a few days earlier, only now it was completely empty. She weakly lifted it up at them to get their attention before she put it on the table next to her with a small clack.

Wheeljack cocked his head at the empty glass bottle, but otherwise made sure not to move to keep from joggling the ill organic. "What's that?" He asked.

"It used to hold a substance meant for breaking down glucose," Orion Pax explained, "but I'm not sure why she had it."

"If I had to hazard a guess," Ratchet put in thoughtfully, "I would say that it was medicine of some sort, probably for her to keep her own internal glucose levels within a manageable level, given their current elevated state. I may not be able to discern much about her frame, but I can see that the excess glucose is running her other systems ragged. It can't be good for her."

Jazz looked over at him. "There's a race out there that can't live without drinking that everyday? Are you so sure about that doc?" He asked pointing over at the empty vial.

Ratchet frowned slightly at the other bot. "No, she probably has an abnormality of some kind found occasionally in her species. And I highly doubt she took it orally." He muttered.

"So what do we do then?" Orion Pax asked. "Can you synthesize more of this medicine? I remember the make up from when I scanned it."

The medic began to nod absentmindedly. "Yes, if you already have the formula then it should be easy enough. Although it's a very inefficient substance," he commented as he looked over the readings Orion Pax had taken.

"Well it doesn't look too hard to fix," Wheeljack added with a grin, enjoying the challenge the little organic presented. "A little tweak here and there and she'll be feeling better than ever."

"Give or take a few orbital cycles," Ratchet added before turning to inspect Wheeljack's work station. "I have the necessary elements upstairs, but it might attract less attention if we used your workshop instead, if that's alright with you Wheeljack,"

The inventor shrugged a yes. "Sure, it shouldn't take too long to whip up anyway. Just give me a cycle to, uh, there we go," he said, gently sliding Ariah off of his finger before stepping over to the counter behind him to start the process of refilling the sick organic's prescription.

Left to themselves, Orion Pax grabbed a clean rag from nearby and swapped it out for the filthy one Ariah still had. As he threw the grime covered one onto a pile in the corner, he caught sight of the thoughtful look on Jazz's face.

"What?" He asked.

"I was thinking," Jazz mumbled, still not finished with his thoughts.

"I couldn't tell," Orion Pax grumbled sarcastically as he watched Wheeljack clear space for devices the librarian had never seen before.

Jazz smirked, but didn't let his friend's reply stop him from talking. "I was thinking that it would just be so much easier to find out why she's here and all that if we could understand each other. So all we need is someone who's good with other languages who can translate for us," the other mech thought out loud.

Orion Pax's gaze slid over to Jazz involuntarily. The smaller bot looked downright smug.

"Let me guess," Orion Pax said, a bit dryly, "you know a mech."

Jazz's grin grew wider. "Not exactly," he said, much too slyly for comfort.


	7. Chapter 7: The Interpreter

*Squeak!* You guys are just so awesome! Did you know that? Well, you are. Completely totally awesome! All those nice things you said about my writing and my being creative *squeaks excitedly some more* Just stop, oh come on stop, you're too much, really you are. But that's a rhetorical statement so really don't stop. Don't stop being all vocal, just keep the reviews coming, yep, there ya go. *Sighs with bliss*

But really you guys are so nice! And your responses are just wonderful. Thank you so very very much! =) ^n_n^ *Mrs. Mittens is purring fanatically* And it was nice to see that I'm not the only one who thinks Wheeljack is so fantasical that we have to use not-real words to describe him. Although I saw that Ratchet and Jazz got some love too. .n_n.

And as for the anonymous reviewer, I wanted to reply but you know, you're anonymous, so I just wanted to say that that totally reminds me of Jazz (what little I know of him) and it reminded me of this caption I saw on Wheeljack's profile on some website. It says something like "Hey Optimus! I just made a machine that makes machines that make catapults! Come and see! Yeah, sure we can wait for Ratchet..." ^_^ I thought it was awesome. It's things like this that make me love him so much. n_n

Now I hope all of you are mentally prepared, because even though she is a girl of many facets - some of which you're about to see - Aria's also about to get her mind blown, not blown up though, just blown...and yes I did use the Dune Bene Gesserit mantra. Don't sue me, it just popped into my head when I started editing that section. Hope you love it!

...

I Lost A World!

7 – The Interpreter – 7

The medication was ready quicker than Orion Pax had thought possible and after some slight arguing on how to actually give it to the organic, Ariah managed to wake up enough to do it herself, pulling a syringe so small out of her pocket that Ratchet wondered out loud how it didn't snap in two at just a touch. Then she promptly fell back into recharge.

"How long until it kicks in?" Jazz asked a few joors later after he had finished sending off his request for assistance to his friend.

Wheeljack just shrugged, so Ratchet answered instead. "Not long, but it'll still take awhile for her frame to return to a healthy state. Other than that I don't know when she'll regain consciousness."

"Um, how about right now?" Jazz asked pointing at the stirring organic. Ratchet and Wheeljack immediately came closer, still very intrigued by the little creature's presence.

Their large shadows fell over the small organic as her optic lids opened uncertainly. For a long cycle she just lay there, feeling confused and miserable, although not as inwardly sugar coated as she had felt before. Dismally Aria found herself wondering if she cut herself now would she start bleeding high intensity, Vermont dense, maple syrup.

The thought made her laugh sleepily. _"That would be funny. Then Orion Pax would think humans bleed syrup instead of blood." _She thought as she rolled over on her back to see if she felt well enough to dare sitting up.

Then she bolted upright so fast her head spun, which was actually a welcome improvement over the feeling of sugar grating against the inside of her veins.

There were _two_ aliens staring down at her now, and neither of them were Orion Pax.

"I've been abducted by aliens!" She shouted. "I mean, uh, different aliens," she amended, and then in a much softer voice added, "I wonder if I should panic this time?"

But when neither unrecognizable robot made a move towards her, Aria decided to put off panicking for later when she felt better. Her stomach still felt too rebellious for any more alarming emotions. So instead of trying to escape, she decided to sit there, at the very least outwardly calm, and hope that a familiar face would appear eventually.

"Well speak of the devil," Aria thought as Orion Pax appeared to her right, a smaller bot following him. Feeling a bit unnerved by all four staring at her so intently, Aria smiled nervously and gave them a little wave of hello.

"What's she doing?" Wheeljack quietly asked Orion Pax from where he had crouched down so that his optics were level with the table, his curious optics never leaving Ariah.

"Waving," Orion Pax gave the obvious answer, "I think it's how they greet one another."

"Why don't they just say hello?" The inventor asked.

Orion Pax shrugged. "How am I to know?" He asked back.

Jazz slanted his large friend a look. "Because it lives with you?" He suggested.

Orion Pax decided not to reply to that as Wheeljack experimentally copied Ariah's gesture.

Aria grinned as one of the new robots twitched its digits at her. "I'm guessing you guys don't wave a lot do you?" She asked just because she had the chance to talk. Not even three hours ago she had thought she was going to die. It felt so nice to be wrong. She was honestly amazed at how much better she felt, and so quickly too.

"It's not like I'm going to go run a marathon or anything, but at least I don't feel like I'm going to die in the immediate future anymore. I guess there's just no beating alien meds." She murmured as she watched the robots talking amongst themselves above her.

"Do you understand what she's saying?" Ratchet asked now.

Orion Pax shook his head.

"I've got that one covered," Jazz spoke up, "my translator friend'll be here in a few orbital cycles to help us out."

"Good," Wheeljack said, "but my question is what do we do with her in the meantime?"

Ratchet hmphed. "Let her rest," the older medic said somewhat sharply, "just look at her. Her internal systems are still malfunctioning from her previous over saturation. I would give it a few orbits before you bring her back."

Orion Pax looked over at the mechasurgeon in surprise. "Bring her back?" He asked.

Ratchet nodded, slightly self conscious now. "Well, yes, I have to make sure she's back in working order don't I?" He asked almost defensively.

Wheeljack smirked at the older med worker. "C'mon Ratchet, admit it, you just want to see the little organic again."

The medic fidgeted surreptitiously. "Well," he tried, "yes, but I still want to make sure she'll be alright." He protested.

"Mm-hm," Wheeljack muttered.

Ratchet skewered the other mech with a sour look. "Like you're one to talk?" He pointed out.

The inventor just turned back to his guests. "Just feel free to bring her around any time." He said.

Orion Pax made no promises.

Meanwhile, Aria was still looking up at them, trying to puzzle out there conversation. She had no luck of course and, even if she had tried to guess at what they were saying, she would have been as far from the truth as she was from home.

...

Over the next few days Aria felt more and more like her normal, not-overdosed-on-sugar, self much to everybody's, especially her own, relief. However, the calm pattern that had existed before was gone with her introduction to Jazz, Wheeljack, and Ratchet. (She knew their names along with their faces now. They had made her understand that much before Orion Pax had taken her back to her lovely little hole in the wall for some much wanted sleep.) She had been completely well for the past four days and this was the first time she hadn't seen any one of them. Not that she was complaining, she rather liked them actually, but it felt nice to be left alone in the quiet for once.

If only she could find something to _do_.

"Figures," Aria said to herself where she sat on the counter outside of the tunnel mouth she still slept in, "the first time I have to myself in days and I don't know what to do with myself. No books, no computer, well, not that _I_ can use anyway. I don't even have a pack of cards." She muttered with a sigh.

She sat there a moment longer before getting up and making her way down to the floor. Maybe a change in view would give her an idea at least.

Not really, she found. At a complete loss of what else to do, she flopped down on the floor, staring up at the thick beams that striped the high ceiling far above her.

An idea popped into her head.

She sat upright, a large smile spreading across her face. "That's it!" she exclaimed.

She scrambled to her feet and made a beeline to the far side of the room where a large pile of miscellaneous odds and ends had been thrown together haphazardly.

"Now where did I see that…" she muttered as she peeked around some empty bins as wide as she was tall. "Aha! Found you!" She yelled as she pulled the long black rope from the heap.

She laughed gleefully once it was free. Just to be sure, she picked up a length of rope and pulled at it experimentally. It stretched like elastic just like she'd hoped.

"Excellent," she muttered like a cartoon villain gone wrong, "Oh! It's even got a hook at the end. Sweet!" Then she hopped up on her feet and ran to the middle of the room, her improvised bungee cord dragging in her wake.

She stopped abruptly in what she thought was the rough center of the room. Then she looked up at the ceiling and took two large steps to the right so that she was directly under one of the metal girders that ran along the ceiling.

Nodding to herself and humming approvingly, she pulled the rest of the makeshift bungee up next to her feet. She kept a good length in her other hand before picking up the hefty metal clasp that was hooked to one end of the rope. She let the hook dangle down near her ankle for a minute as she sized up the height between her and the rafter. Then, nodding her head approvingly again, she started swinging the hook end of the rope until it was nothing more than a blackish blur, the way she had learned from her Uncle Charles, who always wore cowboy hats and had a lasso around because he was a cattle wrangler. Then when she was ready, she flung it up towards the ceiling.

The hook caught in the struts lining the thicker girder with a satisfying clank.

"Very nice," Aria murmured, pleased with herself. She wasn't exactly an unordinary girl, but she was exceptionally curious about practically everything. When she was younger especially she had always liked trying new things. She had spent summers with horses, with falcons, with circus people. She had taken lessons in calligraphy, porcelain painting, calf wrangling (also from Uncle Charles), and flying. She knew how to shoot with a bow and arrows, how to professionally groom a miniature schnauzer, and how to hide a dove in a hat so the audience wouldn't see it. She knew a little bit about a lot of things and it always made for creative and interesting solutions to everyday problems, especially boredom.

Aria tugged at the elastic rope to test how solidly the hook was stuck. "That should do it," she said as she put her headphones in her ears. She found Tchaikovsky's _Arabian Dance_ before pressing play and shoving her Ipod deep into her pocket for safekeeping. Then, with a deep breath and a practiced jump, she leapt up and caught the rope in her hands. Legs held straight out in front of her, she pulled herself up hand over hand, just like Jamie Chan, the circus acrobat from Barnum and Bailey's and her very good friend, had shown her when she was eight.

When there was a good deal of space between her and the floor, Aria let go of her air somewhat shakily. _"I must not fear,"_ Aria thought to herself when she was about ten feet off the floor, _"Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." _She told herself. Then with a deep breath, Aria let go of the rope with one hand and started what Jamie had called dancing in midair.

Aria and her parents had met the teenaged acrobatic performer the summer before Sera was born, when Barnum and Bailey had come to town for their annual show. The girls had bonded fast over rainbow snow cones and mid air flips. Aria's parents had said Jamie Chan was a miracle worker when they found Aria clinging to a rope, her feet three feet off the ground. So they had encouraged their daughter's interest in rope acrobatics, hoping it would help her get over her fear of heights. It had worked, to some extent. She didn't curl into the fetal position and have a panic attack whenever they so much as talked about flying to her grandmother's house anymore at least.

Slowly, not so fast to freak herself out, Aria looped the rope around her feet for a split to match a smooth rise in the music. Then when the clarinet solo started its ascent, she twined the rope around one leg to steady herself for a ballet move she couldn't remember the name of, although she thought the name was undoubtedly French. Most of them were.

She took a deep breath, gathering up the daring to climb higher that was hiding somewhat pitifully in the back of her chest behind her already racing heart. _"Relax," _she mentally intoned, _"relax, now open your eyes and just let go-OWOAH!"_

Aria didn't just scream in her head as the large metal shoulder rose up to fill her field of vision. Quickly she threw herself backwards, hoping to escape into a flip as she griped the rope hard, giving herself rope burns from the sudden friction. But she didn't stop falling until she jammed her foot through a sudden loop in the slack and held on tight.

She jerked to a stop hard enough to wrench her knee, and she yelped at the sudden twist in pain, but she imagined it was nothing compared to if she had actually crashed into Jazz's shoulder.

For a sudden heart pounding moment, she just hung there, swinging slightly back and forth, looking at the upside down room, company included. Orion Pax and Jazz stared back, showing the same shock Aria felt pounding through her blood. From the looks on their faces, Aria could easily imagine that their hearts were running rampant as well, or at least, whatever the equivalent was for Cybertronians.

Aria had just about regained her breath when Jazz pointed up at her and said something she would have sworn meant, "Found her."

A blast of Russian dance music burst into her ears, making Aria jump. Her grip loosened on the rope just enough for her leg to fall out of her safety loop and send her sliding towards the floor. She landed hard and fell over, hitting her already aching knee on the hard floor.

Aria glared up at the two robots standing over her. Vaguely she saw they had tried to catch her, but had missed. Suddenly, knowing that they couldn't understand her was a blessing.

"What the heck was that?" Aria yelled up at them, "Where'd you two even come from anyway?" She demanded, half hoping for an honest to goodness argument.

But even though they could probably tell she was angry, they could only guess at what.

Feeling tears in her eyes, Aria gave a frustrated growl, flung up an arm, and then stalked away, up the cabinets and back to her hole as a week's worth of frustrations began to burn in her stomach.

She ripped the piece of opaque mesh she had been using as a screen closed behind her, cutting off most of the light in her tunnel.

She sat down heavily, bringing her knees up to her chest as the tears coursed down her face. It was all just too overwhelming all of a sudden. Everything she knew, everything she _had_ known, was millions, maybe even billions, of light years away. She couldn't even talk with the beings that had taken her in, only at them. She had no way to talk with her family or friends, not even to her sister who was supposedly somewhere on this foreign planet with her.

Aria felt a rock lodge itself in her throat. _"Oh God, Sera, where _are_ you?"_

Before the answer's absence could start eating away at her again, a short series of clanging thumps echoed through the mesh from the room beyond. Aria looked up, glad for a distraction as she wiped her face with a dirty sleeve and sniffed one last time. Almost shyly, she pulled away the mesh curtain and peered out to see what was going on.

Orion Pax was already at the door. He snuck a look behind him to make sure nothing out of place was still in view, mainly Aria herself, before opening the door.

The figure standing in the doorway was no one Aria recognized. Neither did Orion Pax apparently because for a long moment all he did was stare at the visitor. But then Aria realized with some surprise that the new robot was a girl. Maybe not in the same sense Aria understood as girl, but somehow female nonetheless.

And that gave Aria a whole new set of reasons why Orion Pax was staring.

Despite her sudden bout of loneliness, Aria found herself grinning around the edge of the mesh curtain.

_"I guess romance is romance, no matter what planet you're on,"_ Aria thought, than rolled her eyes bashfully at the thought, _"Lord, I'm such a girl." _she thought. Not that the thought bothered her.

Jazz finally stepped forward, saying something Aria couldn't understand, even if she could comprehend the general meaning. This was that slightly awkward moment in movies where boy meets girl and best friend (his or hers) has to give one a shove to get the conversation (and sometimes the movie) back on track.

Orion Pax jumped out of whatever thought he had been stuck on and quickly got out of the way of the door, hurriedly waving the female robot inside.

Aria slapped a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

There was a brief burst of loud (and possibly awkward) conversation that had Aria covering her ears. So far, Orion Pax and the others had been considerate around her – with one or two shouting exceptions – but it still amazed Aria how loud their normal speech was to her. She could hear every word they said even if they were whispering, now if only she could understand it…

Aria jumped when Orion Pax suddenly pointed at her of all things.

_"What in the world is he doing?"_ Aria thought bewildered, _"What ever happened to stay inside so no one else sees you? I mean, I can understand Jazz and Ratchet, even Wheeljack, but who in the world is this?"_

Orion Pax was gesturing at her now, waving her out of her makeshift habitat. "Ariah," he waved again, looking nervously between her and the new guest. Then when Aria did not come out he stepped closer and asked in a softer tone, "Ariah?"

Aria folded her arms over her stomach, ashamed of herself now for yelling at them. Here she was, who-knew-how-many miles from home, and she went and yelled at the beings that had not only watched out for her, but had saved her life. And for no good reason either. It wasn't their fault her headphones could drown out a jet engine.

Ashamed of her earlier outburst, Aria carefully stepped out from the tunnel mouth and into view.

Orion Pax leaned in closer when he saw her, eyebrows furrowed worriedly as he looked down at the squirming human girl.

Aria fidgeted fretfully. "I-" she tried once and had to swallow past her embarrassment, "I just wanted to say that, I'm sorry," she apologized, not quite meeting Orion Pax's glowing blue eyes, "about earlier. I know that doesn't mean much, since you don't understand a word I'm saying, but, well, I am."

Even though Aria knew that the robotic being didn't know English, she still had a moment of doubt when Orion Pax gave her a tiny nod, as if he understood exactly what she was trying to say.

_"Maybe love isn't the only thing that's universal,"_ she thought slowly to herself.

Orion Pax's mouth twitched up slightly in a smile and Aria somehow managed to find an answering one before looking down bashfully at her feet.

Orion Pax must have taken this as some sort of answer to move on, because he straightened up somewhat and gestured over to the lady bot to come over. Jazz followed her without needing to be asked.

Aria stood still for the by now customary moment of staring at her in shock and awe. Fortunately, the new lady didn't seem inclined to poke at her like Wheeljack had once she had recovered enough from her illness to kindly gawk at their presence. She didn't even stare that long, taking Aria's presence in stride almost easily.

"They forewarned you then?" Aria muttered more than asked.

Her question attracted the new lady's attention more than her physical presence had. The slimmer robot leaned down and peered at Aria intently, saying something to her that Aria could only shake her head at.

"I guess they left out the part where I don't know what any of you are saying." Aria told her.

The lady made a thoughtful whirring noise before she spoke again, only now the words sounded different, smoother somehow.

Aria cocked her head. "Was that a different dialect or something?" She asked.

The lady said something again and this time the words sounded more like an angry person typing on a computer keyboard than anything else.

When Aria still didn't understand, the lady murmured something to the other watching robots. Jazz answered in his offhanded sounding way, making the lady nod thoughtfully.

Orion Pax's head suddenly shot up with an idea and he started speaking to the new female briefly, but excitedly before turning back to Aria and pointing at the side of his head.

Aria sighed. "So we're back to charades than huh? Alright then, uh hear? Sound? Um?"

Orion Pax paused and thought quickly, hands hanging in the air in front of him. Then he snapped his large metal digits and traced a line between his ear and his hip, then pointed at Aria before pantomiming again.

Confused, Aria pulled her Ipod out of her pocket. She wasn't sure if that's what he meant, but it was the only thing in her pocket, so she held it up for the three of them to see.

Orion Pax nodded approvingly and then pointed at the female standing next to him.

Obligingly, Aria handed it over to the newest robot being. As she watched, a line of blue light crawled up, then down, her pink covered music player, like a scanner. Funny enough, that's what the lady was doing.

"Oh," she suddenly said in a voice that was low and sweet like a southern belle mother, "well that is remarkably simple."

Aria blinked as her jaw fell open.

"WHAT?" She shrieked, her mind stalling on this new impossibility. _"Oh sure, living robots, different planets, completely lost in the galaxy, but a lady robot speaking English and my mouth stops like a dog eating peanut butter."_ She found herself thinking as she stared, mouth wide open, up at the lady robot.

The lady was smiling at her now, holding back her laughter, Aria was sure. "I am sorry for startling you." She apologized in a smooth, feminine voice.

Aria managed a squeak.

The lady placed a hand on her chest. "I am called Ariel. And your designation is Ariah yes?"

Aria nodded. "Yeah," she finally managed, "yeah, I'm Aria, Aria Rhapsody, very nice to meet you. How, uh, how did you do that?" She asked, pointing at the Ipod still in Ariel's hand.

The lady glanced down at the small device. "I scanned the speech patterns stored on your music device to learn your method of speaking." She explained.

Aria nodded dumbly. "O-okay then, that's, eh, that's very helpful. So you can understand me now? No more waving my arms in the air like a loony?"

Ariel's smile threatened to grow as she shook her head. "No, not unless you prefer too."

"No, not really thank you." Aria mumbled. Then a question crossed her mind. "Wait, why couldn't they do that? Learn English from my Ipod?" She asked, pointing at Jazz and Orion Pax.

"That is not their caste," Ariel told her simply, "it is mine."

Aria nodded, partially understanding. "So, you're a linguist then?"

Ariel thought about that, trying to pinpoint the exact definition of the word within the small dictionary of song lyrics she had just run through. "Yes, I suppose that is what you would call me. Jazz asked me here to help overcome the communication gap between you and us so that we could discover your purpose in being here."

That made Aria blink. "You want to know why I'm here?" She asked slowly as she pointed a finger at herself. "Well, I don't know. I don't know why I'm here, or even _how_ I got here at all. All I _do_know is that I was driving to the movies with my sister Sera when suddenly we're blindsided by this impossibly bright light, that hurt like a sledgehammer to the kidneys by the way, and suddenly, I'm here. On this alien world filled with living robots, wondering what the heck happened." Aria was ranting by the end.

Ariel blinked curiously at Aria's words. She turned and said something to Orion Pax, who answered, sounding a bit flustered, before Ariel refocused her attention on Aria.

"Perhaps you should tell us your tale from the beginning," she suggested as she and the two males settled more comfortably around the counter.

_"This must have been what the narrator from the first show of Romeo and Juliet felt like."_ Aria thought, fidgeting uncomfortably on her makeshift stage. Then she took a deep breath and told them _everything_.


	8. Chapter 8: The Space Bridge

Okay, so I've been getting lots of questions about what happened to Sera, and I haven't forgotten about her! I even know (generally) what happens to her. It's just that Aria's story was what gripped me, so pretty much when _she _knows something, _you'll_ know something. But trying to mash Sera's story in with Aria's just seems too...messy. It just won't flow right, especially since I've already got this one written out to, like, chapter twenty something already, so I'm thinking of doing a whole different one for Sera. I've even got a title mostly picked out. What do you all think of _The Other Side of the Cybertronian Tracks_? The only problem I foresee is when to start posting it since you all aren't exactly far into Aria's story and the two coincide very nicely near the end. Hmm...decisions, decisions...

Oh, and next week I'm double posting. .n_n. Several people have been begging for it and I'm not so mean as to leave _that_ kind of ending hanging...^-.o^ Uh-oh, Mrs. Mittens is giving me the evil eye. I guess I'm being a bit too mean now. Sorry u.u; But don't worry, this chapter's completely sweet! Especially the end. I love the end! It's - dare I say it? I do! - Fluffy! Oh so very fluffy! XD

^o.o^

...I'm going to shut up now...just hurry up and read the thing before Mrs. Mittens gets me, _please!_ No wait! Bad kitty! Eep!

...

I Lost A World!

8 – The Space Bridge – 8

The room was silent when Aria finished explaining what had happened to her. She waited somewhat patiently on the countertop as the only other creature in the room that could understand her processed all of what she had just said.

"I see," Ariel finally said, breaking the silence. Then she turned to Orion Pax to ask a question. Throughout Aria's story, she had alternated between listening and translating for Orion Pax and Jazz, who stood on either side of her.

"I'm afraid that neither has seen another creature like you, young Aria. Are you sure that your sister is here with you?" Ariel asked after the two males had replied to her query.

Aria nodded firmly even as a little niggling doubt crept into her mind. "Yes," she said anyway, "I saw her after we had gone through the light. The car was gone, but she was still there."

"Car?" Ariel asked, confusion laced through the single word. She had learned the word from Aria's music device and had perceived its purpose from cross referencing it with other words and their implied meanings contained within the pink device however she was still unsure of its precise definition.

Aria either guessed as much or just couldn't imagine a non-human being able to learn the meaning of every word in the English language from her Ipod (which held considerably less words than the dictionary and did not have that nice little 'word' = 'this' format) because she nodded. "Yeah car, automobile, personal transportation device, a protective, sometimes stylish frame with four wheels and driven by a human, hopefully one that actually knows how to drive." Aria listed off what she hoped where understandable synonyms.

Ariel nodded. A good sign, Aria felt, so she decided that now was as good a time as any to start asking her own questions. "So, uh, do any of you know what that light might have been? Or maybe just how I got here in general?" She asked feeling anxiously hopeful.

Ariel consulted with Orion Pax and Jazz. The taller mech just shrugged, but Jazz said something, pointing beyond the wall on Aria's left in roughly the same direction she had come from that first night.

"He says that it sounds like you came through the space bridge, however unlikely it seems." Ariel translated.

"What's a space bridge?" Aria asked, ready for her own definition.

"A method of crossing space in short amounts of time. The device itself is made up of pillars that can transport solid objects between aligned sets." Ariel told her methodically. "The light it produces is intensely bright and would fit your description. That and I cannot imagine that a small organic body like yours would do well when unassembled and reassembled at the atomic level."

Aria felt slightly queasy just at the thought. "No, no not really."

"It is strange though," Ariel went on after a moment of thought, "there is only one space bridge left functioning and no one has used it for vorns too numerous to count." She explained.

Aria ignored the word that had escaped translation since the meaning was perfectly comprehensible. "So why me then? Why now? Did it just randomly decide to lock on to me and Sera and sling us here for no reason?" She asked.

Ariel shook her head. "I find that very doubtful."

Orion Pax spoke up for the first time since the two females had started talking. He sounded uncertain now, which surprised Aria a bit. True, he didn't talk much, but she had never heard so much self-doubt in his voice before.

_"I suppose it makes some amount of sense," _she thought slowly as the aliens spoke, _"if they really do have a caste system like I know from back home, then some people, er, Cybertronians, are thought to be higher than others. I guess that, maybe, those in the lower castes would think twice about speaking their minds around the higher ups,"_

Aria resisted the urge to roll her eyes, _"Figures, Earth isn't the only one with stupid people," _she thought, angry at whoever had first came up with the idea that they were better than the kind hearted group of beings that had taken her in.

"Orion Pax has suggested that perhaps your travels through the space bridge were not an accident or a simple random occurrence," Ariel said to Aria after a moment.

Aria felt her eyebrows furrow. "You mean someone actually planned for this to happen? Sera and I were _abducted_?" She asked in disbelief. Who on E-er, Cybertron, would want to abduct her? It just sounded ludicrous.

"Possibly, yes," Ariel answered calmly, "however we cannot think of anyone who could use the space bridge like this, or why they would in the first place."

"Great," Aria muttered. Then a more apprehensive thought struck her brain. "Wait, if you don't know who did this, or how they managed to control the space bridge, then how can Sera and I get home?" She asked anxiously.

Ariel voiced the little organic's concern to the others. Jazz said something, his body language easy and carefree, which reassured Aria immensely.

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

"He says that returning you to your planet should be as simple as placing you within the pillars and sending you back through the space bridge."

Aria exhaled a large sigh of relief. "Thank you God," she murmured to the air around her, than so the others could hear, "so all we have to do is find Sera and she and I can be on our merry way, yeah?"

Ariel did not look so sure. "In theory, yes," she answered cautiously, "however if someone has switched the ending coordinates to a different set of pillars, it will be considerably more difficult to change them back without more knowledgeable assistance."

Aria swallowed hard at the very idea. "Great," she said again, even more dejectedly, "well if worse comes to worse maybe you can loan me a space ship or something," she joked with a frightened laugh.

Ariel translated out of habit and Jazz laughed loud enough to make Aria slap her hands over her ears. He quickly apologized and reduced his volume, but couldn't make himself stop laughing altogether.

"What?" Aria asked when she dared to uncover her ears. "You have a space bridge but no ships?"

"While we are familiar with ships for flight, there are few craft left that are able to travel far beyond our planet and even fewer of us who remember how to pilot them." Ariel explained, sounding sad.

Aria felt…confused. "So, you have ships, but no one can fly them?" Aria asked, just to be sure.

Ariel nodded once.

"That seems kind of," backwards, bizarre, crazy, "weird." Aria finally managed.

Ariel conceded that with a tilt of her head. "However, it is still the truth. Aside from the Seekers, who can fly under their own power, there are only a handful of elders still functioning that know how to fly large ships."

"Huh," was all Aria could think to say. Her Grandpa George had taught her to fly in his Cessna when she had turned fifteen as a birthday present. She had even flown enough hours in the old bird to go for her pilot's license. All she needed was the money and she had over half already. Granted, it might take her a bit longer to save up now that she was on a different planet, but still, only a hundred or so to go. It just felt so _weird_ to know how to do something that highly advanced aliens didn't.

"Well, I guess I had better hope that the space bridge is still aimed at Earth then." Aria eventually said.

"That would be the easiest course of action." Ariel told her.

"Is this bridge very far from here?" Aria asked a few moments later, planning ahead helping to override her panic at everything that would probably go wrong.

"Roughly fifty of what you call miles." Ariel told her.

Aria swallowed down her fear as she looked anxiously up at the female robot. "Do," she tried, "do you think Sera still might be somewhere around there?"

Ariel blinked slowly at the little organic's clear hesitation before consulting with the two mechs standing next to her. The femme highly doubted that their uncertain answers would do much to reassure the little organic standing nervously, switching her weight from one foot to the other, in front of her, so when she turned back towards the uneasy Aria, she smiled peacefully instead. "It cannot hurt to go and check." She told her.

...

Aria took in her surroundings with giddy feeling as she watched the city of Iacon roll past the clear windows of Orion Pax's alt-form. Aria had nearly fallen off the counter when she first saw her host transform from a thirty foot tall robot into something not much bigger than a very large Earth truck.

It had taken her a moment to get over the pointing and squeaking nonsensically.

And then, as if that hadn't been enough of a surprise, they had told her she was supposed to get in, just like he _was_ a car. Aria had refused out of an automatic sense of shock, and then again when she realized that Orion Pax was pretty much offering to carry her. It just seemed so…so rude to accept. Not to mention more than a little weird to go crawling into another being's insides.

Ariel smiled at her when she warily explained as much, but Aria thought there was an edge of relief to the gesture. It struck her as kind of strange, but she didn't have time to ask.

"Thank you, for the thought, young Aria, but it is not a burden. Orion Pax offered because he thinks it wise to keep you out of immediate public sight, which seems a wise idea." Ariel explained. "Do others on your planet not sometimes offer rides to friends or acquaintances?" She asked with a curious tilt of her head, honestly eager to know more.

"Well, yeah, sometimes," Aria admitted. _"Although usually that doesn't mean they _carry_ us!" _She thought in shock.

Ariel nodded, unaware of the inner workings of the little organic's head. "This is the same thing. Now come, we only have so much time before we must resume our different works." She said, holding out a small hand for Aria to climb on to.

She had, carefully, and then with even more care, climbed into Orion Pax's alt form. It had been very strange at first, was still very strange actually, but soon the view of the city had wiped away most of Aria's misgivings. Aside from a few instances where she needed to duck down to avoid a stranger's curious eyes, she spent the trip gawking at the city. Of course she had seen it from the window before, but this was different. There was something grander about looking up at it from street level so that the honey colored buildings stretched so far over her head that Aria felt like a mouse looking up in a ripe grain field. The architecture was nothing like anything she had ever seen before. Even the illustrated space operas she had found last summer were dull, boring, and impossibly human compared to the city she now found herself in.

But it was all practically normal compared to their destination.

"Wow," Aria breathed when they had finally stopped. Roughly a hundred yards away, a circular, metallic structure grew out of the ground. Along its edge what looked like sticks about as tall as Aria stood out of the ring every few yards, the pillars that made this bridge work she guessed. In the center, a pillar almost exactly like the others, only glowing red instead of white, hovered several feet above the ground. Although she could barely make it out amid the familiar bright light that filled the ring and stretched off into the immeasurable distance above her head.

"That's it," Aria said once she had taken in most of the details, "that's got to be the thing I saw when I got here." Just to be sure, she shaded her eyes with one hand and squinted at the circular base the pillars were placed in. She nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure of it. Only I don't remember the light staying on when Sera and I landed."

As if to prove her point, the light of the space bridge abruptly flickered, then died, leaving behind an empty ring and sunspots in Aria's vision that refused to fade no matter how many times she blinked.

Frowning slightly, the girl turned around to see the three Cybertronians standing behind her, Ariel translating for the others. Aria waited for her to finish before pointing at the now lightless bridge.

"What happened to it?" She asked.

"No one is sure why, but from time to time the space bridge disengages. Most think that because the device is so old, and with no one around who knows how to repair it, that the space bridge is simply malfunctioning from age and lack of care. But given your sudden appearance I can't help but wonder if maybe this is not as random as all that." Ariel told her.

Aria nodded, "Yeah, maybe not so much," she muttered as she turned back to look at the offline bridge. "Is it safe to go near it?" She asked in a louder voice. It didn't seem very bright to her to just go search through something that could possibly transport her to an even weirder planet than the one she was already on all willy nilly, malfunctioning or not.

At Ariel's nod, Aria started walking closer to the bridge's base, keeping a careful eye out for her little sister's blonde head as she did. The surrounding area was fairly clear of debris or equipment so Aria had a pretty good view. Sadly, it did not include her nine year old sister.

"Sera!" Aria shouted as she looked around, "Sera are you here?"

No one answered.

Carefully, Aria walked around the bridge base, checking every single angle, just in case one would show her her missing sister. When that yielded nothing, she hopped over the base and looked inside, just to be sure.

It was as empty from the inside as it had looked on the outside. As a cold despair began to crush the hope out of her heart, Aria leapt back over the wall and rejoined Ariel, Orion Pax, and Jazz where they stood a few yards away.

"I," Aria swallowed hard past the lump in her throat, "I don't see her. I don't think she's here anymore." Her voice was soft and sad and for once Orion Pax thought he didn't need help understanding why.

Without any warning, a flicker of light caught their attention. The four turned to look as the space bridge suddenly came online again, looking for all the world as if it had never shut down in the first place.

Aria felt a familiar sting in her eyes and she quickly rubbed it away before full fledged tears could present themselves. She had hoped – but it didn't matter now. Sera obviously wasn't here. Maybe she hadn't even been here.

Aria's head snapped up at the thought. "Do you think," she asked hesitantly, "maybe she was still in the ring when the space bridge came on again? Maybe she came with me, but then didn't get out in time and it just sent her home? A round trip maybe?" She asked, afraid of the hope that was struggling to set her heart on edge again.

"It is possible…" Ariel said slowly, not wanting to get Aria's hopes up either.

Jazz suddenly spoke up. The two femmes looked over at him and he pointed at something to their left lying on the ground. Curious, Aria jogged over, the others following her. Aria saw it now too. It was something purple and kind of sparkly.

Her eyebrows shot up when Aria finally recognized the bracelet laying abandoned on the ground. Not wanting to think about what its presence meant, Aria picked it up. Its weight felt familiar in her hand.

"It's Sera's," she said in disbelief, "I gave it to her for her last birthday. She was wearing it when we got in the car."

No one said anything for a long moment as Aria stared at her sister's bracelet. Preoccupied as she was, Aria missed the worried look that passed between Orion Pax and Jazz.

"Do you think it's safe to let her stay?" Orion Pax asked his friend quietly.

Jazz shrugged. "Beats me," he answered, his tone too causal for comfort, "but this Megatron and his gladiators have been railing against the caste system for stellar cycles and so far nothing _too_ drastic has happened." The other mech pointed out calmly, but there was still an undercurrent to his words that set Orion Pax on edge. It made him wonder just how long this uneasy peace would go on.

But he was soon distracted by Aria's bewildering action. She appeared to be leaking somehow. She kept wiping at her optics with the back of her hand and sniffing into her sleeve as if it could prevent the others from noticing her.

"What's she doing?" Jazz asked, seeing Aria's leaking optics.

Orion Pax could only shrug in confusion, but Ariel replied evenly, "She is upset. Her sister is missing. I can only imagine what she must feel."

Orion Pax looked over at the femme, curiosity piqued, but quickly decided that now was not the time to be asking personal questions. Carefully, he bent down towards the leaking Aria. It took her a cycle, but eventually after much rubbing at her optics, she looked up at him. Orion Pax saw that the whites around her blue lenses had turned red and she kept biting at her lips, trying to hold back whatever expression of grief her race had.

"I am sorry your sister is not here," he told her in what he hoped was an apologetic and reassuring tone, "but please know that I will do all that I can to help you find her and send the both of you home."

A small smile broke onto Aria's sad face when Ariel finished translating Orion Pax's words. He waited patiently as she wiped away the last of the fluid leaking from her optics before speaking.

"She says that you are sweet," Ariel told him, sounding a bit unsure of her translation.

"What does sugar have to do with this?" Jazz asked, just as confused by the organic's words as Ariel and Orion Pax were. "Is she getting sick again?"

"I do not believe so. Perhaps it is a colloquialism of her planet," Ariel supposed.

Orion Pax thought he understood the general meaning even if he did not know the exact definition of Aria's words. He returned her small grin and reached out a careful finger to tousle her hair. He ended up shaking Aria's whole body, nearly sending her toppling to the ground, but she laughed at him, so he assumed he hadn't hurt her.

Her smile was a little truer once she had regained her balance. She said a single, grateful sounding word, but in a curious gesture, she also touched her fingers to her chin and lowered her hand so that it stopped palm up in front of her chest.

"She thanks you," Ariel told him, her voice soft and lovely, "and adds that the sign is from a language spoken with hands for people on her world with malfunctioning auditory receptors. It also means 'thank you'."

Orion Pax gave Aria a somewhat lopsided smile and nodded. He wasn't doing anything special. In all honestly he felt like it was the very least he could do. She was lost and alone and quite literally stuck with them. What else could he do but help her find her way home?

Not feeling too comfortable saying that out loud, Orion Pax chose not to say anything else. Instead he stood up and gestured towards the city in the near distance. "Shall we return?" He asked the little creature.

Aria nodded and began walking slowly back towards town. However reassured she might have felt though, she walked slowly with her head down, shoulders slumped, and arms crossed over her torso, the purple bracelet held tight in her hand, undoubtedly deep in thought over her sister's continued absence.

Orion Pax gave her space, feeling certain there was nothing more he could say or do that would make her feel better at the moment. He didn't notice his companion until she spoke.

"That was very kind of you," Ariel said to him in a soft voice.

Orion Pax looked over at her, caught off guard by her sudden appearance as well as her interest in speaking with him.

"It was all I could think to say," he told her truthfully.

He caught a hint of a smile on her face. "Well it was kind anyway."

They walked in silence again, slowing their pace to keep a steady distance behind the still thoughtful Aria and the unusually quiet Jazz, who had caught up with the organic and was matching her slow but steady pace.

Finally Orion Pax couldn't stand the heavy silence any longer. "So, ah," he tried to think of something to say that wouldn't sound as awkward as he felt, "do you have any sisters then?" He finally managed, remembering her earlier sympathy for Aria's plight.

The linguist nodded once. "One, yes. Chromia and I have been friends since we received our first frames. And then our guardians turned out to be bonded sisters despite the differences in their classes, so in the end we followed suite. She is my dearest friend." She told him. Despite her soft voice, Orion Pax could still hear the strength of her emotion behind her words.

"She must be very lucky," he said, but when she looked confused by his words he added, "to have you as her sister." The thought of another awkward silence must have been too much for him because he quickly added, "I have a brother myself, an earlier charge of my guardian called Ultra Magnus, but we don't speak much."

"Oh," Ariel murmured in understanding, then looked almost shyly away from him.

Orion Pax did the same, embarrassed by his own boldness. He didn't know what was wrong with him. It wasn't like he had never met a femme before. It was just that he had never met one that made him feel so self-conscious. He actually felt flustered, a word he did not use lightly.

And given Ariel's continued silence, he was pretty sure he was actively destroying whatever chance he had of finding out why she had this effect on him at all.

His spark was still sinking when Ariel turned towards him.

"I am afraid that I must return to my work soon, but would it be alright if I visited again later?" She must have found some fault with her words because her hands gave a nervous twitch. "I mean, your organic friend's language is simple, but interesting. I would like the chance to be able to comprehend it better." She added very quickly.

Caught off guard by the question, it took Orion Pax a moment to realize he should answer. "What? Er, yes. Yes! Of, of course. That would be," he tried to think of a less embarrassing word than 'wonderful', but could only think of the too plain, "nice."

Ariel smiled at him, genuinely happy at his stammered answer. "Wonderful." She murmured.

A few yards ahead of them, Jazz and Aria walked on, now unnoticed by the two following them. Curious at the muted conversation, Jazz glanced behind him. He grinned at what he saw.

Keeping a low profile, Jazz reached out and nudged the organic girl walking next to him, catching her attention. Aria looked up, dragging herself away from her heavy thoughts. Her eyebrows came together as Jazz nodded silently over his shoulder at the two walking a little ways behind them.

Surreptitiously, Aria looked behind her. She felt her eyebrows shoot up when she saw how close Orion Pax and Ariel were walking together and the matching self-conscious smiles they had on their faces.

She quickly turned back around before they could spot her. She clapped a hand over her mouth to keep her amused giggles inside as she shot Jazz a meaningful look.

The mech just shrugged, smirking all the same. For once he didn't need a translation to understand Aria.

Which was good, because their interpreter was a bit tied up at the moment.


	9. Chapter 9: The Downslide of Alien Meds

!n_n! Hi all! Back again and for a double scoop of greatness this week! Hooray! However in the interest of suspense (I'm not trying to be mean, exactly, but there is some, crisscrossed, part of me that actually likes the not knowing of things-to-come, even when I'm all twisted in knots by the end of it and hopefuly some of you like that feeling too) I'll be posting chapter ten tomorrow. Sorry if this isn't quite what you wanted but, well, there it is. But if you're one of those people who despises being left in the dark at surprising (and hopefully exciting, and somewhat nerve wracking) points, then read this tomorrow when I have the next chapter posted. Trust me, it'll just work out better for you.

Oh! And I just want to thank all of you that reviewed. THANK YOU! I'm really glad you guys liked Ariel so much. I _loved_ writing that last scene. I even couldn't stop giggling to myself as I typed it up. It just felt so cute! Oh, and tomorrow I'll have to tell you what happeend to Mrs. Mittens over the weekend. Can we say surprise road trip anyone? n_n;

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy chapter nine and by all means drop me a line! :D Until tomorrow!

...

I Lost A World!

9 – The Downslide of Alien Meds – 9

The trip back through Iacon was very different from the first. Aria was quiet and still as Orion Pax drove back through the crowded city streets. Instead of looking out at the honey colored city, she sat with her head leaning against the out of place window and occasionally gave a long, heavy sigh.

_"What to do? What to do?"_ She kept thinking. It was like her mind was stuck in a mental rut, going through the same, unhelpful, words over and over again. Half finished, other thoughts kept trying to break through the mind numbing chant, but they just didn't have enough force to disrupt the flow.

_"What to do? What to do?" _She thought again, hating the rut even more than the lack of an answer, if that was possible.

Aria sighed again, her head rolling against the clear surface with the smooth motion of Orion Pax's turn onto a new street, this one no less crowded than before. To try and break up the monotony, Aria sat back against the wall behind her, vacantly staring out the window to try and preoccupy her mind. She felt so tired, so heavy, now. Walking must have taken more out of her than she had first thought.

_"It's nap time when we get back." _She told herself, momentarily relieved of her previous question.

Aria's mind emptied as they rolled down another block or two. Wearily she closed her eyes, taking in what she was sure would be a short lived moment of peace.

_"I feel so heavy…" _she found herself thinking slowly. Her hands might as well have been lead lumps where they rested against her knees and there was an unpleasant tingling sensation running through her suddenly weak legs. _"They feel like their made of jell-o." _Then she sighed again. _"What to do? What to-oh yeah. Nap. That's what to do."_

With a small snort of laughter at herself, Aria cracked open her eyes and started out hazily at the city creeping past the window. "We're going so slow," she muttered groggily to her driver. She waited quietly for a second, expecting Ariel's translation, but then she remembered that the female Cybertronian had left already, heading off to wherever it was she worked.

Aria didn't let her translator's absence stop her from speaking. "It'd probably be faster if we jus' walked," she pointed out, her words starting to blend together. Her eyelids drooped once, twice, before she snapped them open again and forced herself to stare out at the gleaming buildings passing slowly a few yards away. She propped an elbow against the portal and stubbornly propped her head up, determinedly staring at the view, not caring if any of the passerby saw her.

Her eyelids slowly started to close.

Aria snapped her head up, hitting it against the low roof. "Youch!" She shouted startled more than hurt as she rubbed at the top of her head. She must have surprised Orion Pax too because he jerked to a stop at her sudden yelp, nearly sending Aria flying forward. When they both realized that nothing was about to come out of nowhere and hit them, Orion Pax sent a somewhat irritated sounding blast at Aria.

"Out!" She yelled, not even bothering to guess at his question. "I need out!" then she flung the door open and clumsily hopped out. Orion Pax would have been considerably more annoyed if her foot hadn't crumpled under her and she hadn't crawled to the pedestrian's walkway. Somewhat alarmed, he pulled over and transformed, keeping a wary eye on the little organic as she regained her feet only to take a few steps and collapse into a sitting position under the nearest unlit streetlamp. Miraculously none of the passerby had paid her much attention. Those that did glance at her quickly went back to whatever they were doing, dismissing her as nothing more than a minicon or a drone, Orion Pax hoped.

"What is she doing?" Jazz hissed once he had transformed and joined Orion Pax.

The larger mech shrugged. "I don't know," he answered hurriedly, "she just got out when we stopped. I don't know why."

Jazz cursed low enough that even Orion Pax standing right next to him had difficulty understanding his precise words. It only made it that much harder to copy him.

"Well now what?" Jazz demanded, aggravated bordering on angry, "Are we just supposed to pick her up in the middle of all these bots?"

Orion Pax looked around at the milling crowds as covertly as he could. They were right in the thick of this sector's shift switch. Bots were coming and going all along the street, most stopping to talk with familiar faces before going on their way again. Retrieving Aria now, or just talking to her, would be noticed not just by someone, but lots of someones, and Orion Pax would bet that all of them would say something about an organic's presence on the street. If he was in someone else's place he knew he would. The High Council would be flooded with rumors of organic invasion before the orbit was out.

"Let's just wait a while. The crowds will thin in a few cycles and then we can grab her when no one's looking our way. Just try not to attract too much attention."

At that moment, Aria started giggling.

Jazz practically winced. "Yeah, well it's not me you need to tell that to." He grumbled as he watched the crowds to see if anyone had heard Aria's mad laughter. But thankfully it seemed that the dull roar of so many bots talking at once had drowned out the little being's amusement.

Jazz suddenly froze.

"What? What is it?" Orion Pax asked, searching the crowd for whoever had spotted the unsuspecting organic.

"No, it's not that, it's just" Jazz paused, thinking first, "we didn't tell her about Wheeljack's changes to her medicine, did we?"

Orion Pax thought about it, and then shook his head. "No, why? Do you think it will have an adverse affect on her?"

Jazz looked pointedly over at the madly giggling organic. "I'm going to go with yes on this one."

Orion Pax opened his mouth to speak, when Jazz started shoving him toward the pedestrian's walk. "She's getting up! Grab her, quick!"

But Orion Pax was blocked by the crowd. He could hardly see Aria much less pick her up through the mass of metal bodies.

"Where is she?" He hissed, trying hard not to shout.

He figured Jazz must have had better vision than he did, because the smaller mech started pushing him against the flow of traffic. "I see her! She's headed towards the corner."

The two mechs took off as fast as they dared through the dense crowd of bots. Occasionally, Orion Pax would catch sight of Aria's brown hair through the mass of metal gray bodies and brightly painted colors, but it was mostly Jazz that managed to keep tabs on her. If he hadn't been there Orion Pax was sure he would have lost the organic femme long ago.

"She's around the corner, quick! Go! Go! Go! We're gonna lose her!" Jazz whispered harshly as she shoved at his friend to hurry up.

Orion Pax rounded the corner and ran smack into another mech. He had just enough time to notice that the other mech was darkly painted and had several industrial scars along with two minicons sitting on his stiff shoulders before Orion Pax mumbled a quick apology and dashed on, spotting Aria through the thinning crowd. Dimly he wondered what a member of the industrial caste was doing in this more artistic sector of town, but then remembered seeing a few construction sights along their mad dash for Aria.

_"That would explain the heavy alt-traffic too," _Orion Pax thought as he muttered his apology.

Then Jazz hissed, "We're losing her!" And the chase was on again.

The two mechs took off after her, hurriedly enough to draw attention from confused passerby. Orion Pax was sure that someone would see the organic femme as she tripped and stumbled past their feet, but miraculously no one did.

"Ariah!" He whispered forcefully when a gap in the crowd appeared. "Ariah stop!"

But she only spun around and smiled at him, laughed, and nearly ran into a wall when she completed her circle. She laughed at that too as she dusted herself off, unwittingly stumbling through someone's legs as she headed farther down the street.

The little organic led them on a zigzagging chase that had Orion Pax marveling at the little creature's endurance. She looked like she was ready to just fall over, but she still went on despite her slow and clumsy feet. The only reason he and Jazz hadn't caught her yet was because of the crowd. Someone was always looking back at them when they bumped into them, or they were just plain in the way, coming between Orion Pax and the small, unnoticed Ariah.

They finally lost her when she slipped into a crowded square that sat between four slim, towering buildings that gleamed shiny new in the sunlight.

"Where is she?" Jazz asked, practically bending over to try and catch sight of the organic through the numerous moving feet. The Cybertronians passing him pretended not to notice.

"I don't know," Orion Pax said, using his height to look over the crowd to see if that helped. It didn't.

"Wait!" Jazz suddenly said, leaning closer to the ground. "I see her!"

"Where?"

Jazz pointed into the thick of the crowd. "There!"

Orion Pax stepped to the right.

"No, no, over _there_!" Jazz corrected him forcefully.

Orion Pax finally spotted Aria's small frame through a fleeting gap in the crowd. "I see her," he muttered, feeling beyond frustrated and more than a little freaked out. "Alright how about this? I'll go straight and you see if you can't get behind her so she can't get away again. Hopefully we can catch her without anyone else realizing an organic is running around their feet."

Jazz nodded, picturing the calamity that would cause. That, and with all the bots crammed into this little square, it would only be a matter of time before Aria got herself stepped on.

Orion Pax started wading through the thick press of metal frames. Jazz followed suite, shaking his head at the whole situation as he cut through the crowd at a diagonal where Aria couldn't see him. "How can she be this difficult? She doesn't even reach my knee joint. Where does she find the energy to make such a mess?" He wondered out loud, keeping the little organic mostly in sight through the haze of pedestrians.

Orion Pax was thinking mostly the same thing as he shoved as politely as he could through what felt like a never ending swarm of citizens. He was getting closer he saw, he could practically reach out and grab her if only he could get a clear shot.

_"And if she would just stay still!"_ He thought with frustration as the little organic stumbled suddenly and fumbled to the left, away from his reach.

"Ariah!" he dared to whisper forcefully despite the crowd, "hold still!"

She spotted him through the mass of bodies and smiled shakily. Looking practically lopsided, Ariah waved at him before spinning around and walking in the opposite direction around the corner.

Orion Pax looked at Jazz over the heads of the masses. The other bot vented a sigh and threw up his arms. "After you," Jazz told him with a frustrated sigh as he gestured around the corner.

Orion Pax exhaled loudly and looked up in an attempt to stave off more irritation than he already felt before sharply turning the corner after Aria.

"Ariah!" He hissed again once he realized that they were now in a deserted back alley street. "What are you doing?"

Aria's head wobbled disconcertingly on her neck and she reached up a quivering hand to steady it. She wasn't giggling now, just pale and distracted looking, like she was waking up from some sort of daze.

"Ariah?" Orion Pax asked, a bit softer, as she leaned back against the nearest wall and slid down to the ground with a small groan.

"Oh great, _now_ what's wrong with her?" Jazz asked when he caught sight of the little organic staring vaguely into space. There was a brief struggle between her weak fingers and the stiff fabric of the pants Wheeljack had given her to replace her old, tattered clothes before she managed to pull a small, white tube from her pocket. Puzzled, Jazz watched as the organic femme shook the rest of the flat tabs out onto the palm of her hand. She stared at them hard as she tried to count them before just tossing the lot of them into her mouth.

Orion Pax shrugged somewhat helplessly. "I don't know. Maybe this is what happens when she takes too much of…whatever she called it. We should probably take her back to Ratchet and Wheeljack, just in case."

Jazz sighed dramatically. "Oh man, not again." He griped.

"Well, if you've got a better idea I'd be glad to hear it," Orion Pax told him a little harshly as he carefully picked Aria up and tried to set her back on her feet.

Jazz opened his mouth to snap back at him, but before he could manage to make any kind of sound, the world exploded in a great fiery, concussive blast that rent the air, and the planet beneath their feet trembled with an explosive force that had nothing to do with the nearby construction.


	10. Chapter 10: Falls the Shadow

Oh! You guys are too good to me! .n_n. Look I'm blushing...Oh! But I promised to tell you what happened to Mrs. Mittens didn't I? Well she was kidnapped! Gasp! You see, my church's senior pastor is leaving, so we had a party (no no! Not _that_ kind of party. A going away party!) and while we were there my little sister noticed that there were garden rocks on the table along with some sharpies. So she picks one up and draws a kitty on it. So of course then I just _have_ to draw Mrs. Mittens on one and put, "Say hi to Mrs. Mittens!" on it. We sort of laugh about it and then we get up to go find our dad who is, of course, talking to someone. But when we came back, all the rocks were gone! Including Mrs. Mittens! All we can think is that someone picked them up to put in the box of blessing stones (which is really what the rocks and sharpies were meant for in the first place) so Mrs. Mittens is moving out of state! Wah! ..u.u..

I wonder what Pastor's going to say when he finds her...

^o.o^

Gasp! Mrs. Mittens you're back! Or you're that clone I made just in case...oh well! Doesn't matter. My digital kitty's no longer a very literal pet rock! Hooray! n.n;

Oh boy, that might be enough excitement for me and Mrs. Mittens for one week. Especially with all the mayhem that you're about to read! And a right quick note: the title is a reference to T.S. Eliot's _The Hollow Men, _a very interesting poem in my opinion along with _The Wasteland_ (which is really confusing o.O). I really like Eliot's work. He's so...descriptive and in so few words too. I find it quiet impressive. Anyway, until next week!

Oh, and here's a preemptive _"DUN DUH DUN!" _Just fit it in at the bottom of the page and it'll all make sense...hee hee n.n

...

I Lost A World!

10 – Falls the Shadow – 10

"Get down!" Jazz yelled.

There was only a second's respite between the sound of the explosion and the shockwave that came tearing after it, making metal crumple and glass shatter as if it was nothing more than cheap plastic. Orion Pax threw his hands over Aria, bodily covering her from what he knew would be devastating repercussions as he hunkered down low to the ground to keep from being thrown.

Even then he was nearly blown backwards by the wave of devastating wave of force that rolled out from the center of impact. Over the blast of sound and debris Orion Pax still heard Ariah's high pitched shriek of pain and fear. Desperately, he strengthened his feeble attempt of giving her protection and tried to hold his ground.

The rolling wave of destruction surged against Orion Pax's metal body one last time, trying to overthrow him, but failing in the end. Then it was gone, leaving behind an impossibly loud silence and three frightened beings in the empty back street of Iacon.

For what felt like an eternity, nobody moved. Aria hardly even breathed. She remained frozen in the dark of Orion Pax's large, sturdy hands. Her own hands were glued to her ears, fingers pressing against her skull tight enough to hurt. Not that she noticed. Her chest still hurt from the unseen wave that had buzzed in her chest like a big bass speaker at a rock concert, only easily ten times as powerful.

Movement around her made Aria jump back against her protector's hands. Her mind blanked in panic before she realized that it was only Orion Pax, checking to make sure she was still alive.

He asked her something, probably along the lines of, "Are you all right?"

Aria's legs just gave out from under her and she flopped down to the metal walkway, her whole body starting to quake, and not just because her blood sugar was on the fritz again.

"W-wa-what ha-happened?" She eventually managed to stutter.

Before Orion Pax could so much as tilt his head at her, Jazz called out at his friend and pointed back around the corner they had come around only minutes before. Still too much in shock to think, Orion Pax scooped Ariah up onto his palm before slowly climbing to his feet. It took him much longer than it should have, but somehow he managed to gain his feet. He couldn't make himself think past the overwhelming sense of dread that had deadened his sensors.

He joined Jazz at the corner with slow steps. Beyond the buildings lay destruction the likes of which Orion Pax had only seen in the records he catalogued orbits in and orbits out.

Wreckage lay everywhere. The aesthetic square that they had come through was gone and ruin had taken its place. Pieces of the surrounding buildings and even, even of the other pedestrians that had been walking by lay scattered throughout the broken space. Over everything lay a fine layer of dusted glass that sparkled and shone in the diminishing sunlight. On anything else, under any other circumstances, the fractured light thrown up from the finely blasted glass would have been pretty, but all Orion Pax felt when he saw the little sparks of color was the overwhelming sensation that someone was mocking him, laughing sadistically at the unexpected death and destruction.

An unexpected sound made Orion Pax looked down. Ariah was huddling against him, whimpering at the wreckage of metal before them. She was leaking again he saw, only this time she didn't bother trying to hide the liquid streaming down her face. She looked up at him, the same fear and confusion he felt written all over her face.

Movement out in the square made all three of them jump slightly. Aria ducked and covered her head, fearing another explosion, but it was only the broken remains of a metal wall falling over.

No, Orion Pax realized a nanoklik later, it was being pushed aside by someone trapped underneath. Someone still _alive._

The two mechs hurried forward as quickly as care allowed them, Orion Pax only stopping long enough to deposit a still leaking Aria on what remained of the circular fountain that had been in the middle of the square. He didn't bother telling her to stay put. Her legs were still shaking so much that the order seemed superfluous.

They could hear a voice now, coming from underneath the piece of wall, tentatively calling out.

"Hold on!" Jazz said as he reached the shifting debris. "We're going to get you out, just give us a klik."

The cries for help stopped. Orion Pax wasn't sure if he was projecting his own fear onto whoever was trapped, but he thought he could practically feel the panic creeping out from under the wall through the cracks left where another large chunk of metal had propped it up, probably saving the buried survivor.

Between the two of them, the wall fragment moved, revealing a sturdily built mech painted a red tinted yellow pressed tight against the cracked ground. As Jazz and Orion Pax put the heavy wall down on the scattered bits of the rest of its building, the mech stood up rather shakily.

"Thank you, thank you," he mumbled, clearly still in shock, "but what, what happened? What was that?" He asked as he looked around at the rubble littering the square. "My buildings!" He suddenly cried as he spotted the various dented and crumpled structures that surrounded the square.

"Your buildings?" Jazz asked incredulously, whether at the clear possessive note in the stranger's voice or at the fact that he was worried more about the non-living edifices instead of the other, extinguished, Cybertronians, Orion Pax could only guess. Although to be fair he probably would have guessed right.

"I designed them," the mech told them, his voice becoming increasingly softer as the wanton destruction began to truly sink in. "I'm the architect, Grapple."

Orion Pax nodded absently. He had heard that name before, as had most of the residents of Iacon. Grapple was one of the more famous architects of the time, a true master of the artistic trade. He was also a well known eccentric, which would explain some of why he was so worried over the state of the surrounding structures.

But he was noticing other things now. "Are," he voiced hesitantly, "aren't there any others still functioning? This place was packed a cycle ago."

Aria had watched in stunned disbelief as Orion Pax and Jazz had freed the other survivor. She felt like she was trapped in a nightmare. The echoing boom of the explosion and the angry roar of the after shock kept circling in her head. She just couldn't stop shaking.

_"Who would do such a horrible thing?" _She asked herself, her mental voice sounding just as shaky as she knew her physical one was. With another whimper, she clutched her arms tight around her body, as if that could protect her from the horror all around her.

A small sound behind her made Aria jump and spin around. But there was nothing dangerous, no more big bangs coming her way to take out the rest of the surrounding area.

"S-stop it." Aria told herself as firmly as she could. "Just stop it. You're just afraid. You're hearing things. Nothing wrong with a little madness after something like that. They even have a whole bunch of scientific names for it back home."

But the sound came again, a little stronger than before, and Aria knew she wasn't imagining things. It was coming from her left and down below her, near the ground amidst the debris.

Aria looked over her shoulder, wondering if she should say anything. But Orion Pax and Jazz were still busy freeing the other survivor. She didn't want to distract them from that just because she heard a little noise.

So she decided to handle this herself. She climbed carefully down the thick chunk of metal Orion Pax had set her on, using the rough and ragged surface where it had been broken to keep from falling to the shrapnel littered ground.

The sound was louder down here. Aria listened a moment before making her way forward and left towards the frightened sound. She could almost identify it when she came to the source; a heap of heavy scrap larger than boulders.

"Hello?" Aria called through one of the gaps. "Is anybody in there?"

The sound disappeared, then came again, louder. Someone was crying, Aria realized with a gasp.

With only one uncertain glance at the pile of heavy metal, Aria got down on her hands and knees and crawled through a space left between the scrap. Fortunately, the path was relatively straight, with little obstacles to keep Aria from making her way inside.

"It's alright," Aria called out as she squeezed through a particularly tight spot, "I'm coming for you. You're going to be alright."

Aria had hardly gotten the words out of her mouth before she stumbled into an unexpected cavern. Gratefully she stood up and stretched her back as she looked around for the source of the frightened crying.

Glowing, baby blue eyes blinked at her from the heavy darkness. Aria gasped and jumped, startled by their appearance. She blinked, trying to make her eyes adjust faster to the darkness.

It was a child, Aria realized. Or at least, whatever they called their children here. It was the smallest robot being Aria had seen, although that said little since it was still easily twice as big as her.

Quickly, Aria scampered down the side of the depression the child lay in.

The little bot started wailing when it saw her, desperate clicks and whirs scattered throughout its cries.

"No, no, it's alright," Aria tried her best to sound soothing, although she was sure she only sounded half panicked at best. Not knowing what else to do she reached out a gentle hand and touched the little bot's cheek, forcing herself to smile at what she thought was a little boy.

"You're alright, you're safe." She told the whimpering boy. "Just hush a little, hush. I'm going to get you out of here, somehow. I bet you're mommy is worried sick over you-"

She stopped speaking. She had just looked up to see if there was any space big enough to maybe try and pull the child out, when she saw the large metal hand draped protectively over him. Her eyes widened as she followed the hand, up the arm, to the shoulder, and finally up to the head of the other Cybertronian.

It was another female robot, like Ariel, although in the dark that was about the only thing Aria could discern about the female. That, and the fact that her eyes were dark and empty.

Aria held back a chocking sob and quickly looked back at the squirming child. She managed a twisted smile, but her vision was swimming with unshed tears. The explosion had killed her, just like that. A creature more than ten times Aria's size, made of metal stronger than a military tank, and the bomb had killed her as easily as Aria stepping on a bug. Aria couldn't bring herself to think on what would have happened to her if Orion Pax hadn't shielded her from the brunt of the blast. She knew without a doubt that she would probably be nothing more than a big red smear on the ground.

The thought alone made her sick to her stomach, but she quickly pushed it away, forcing herself to concentrate on the scared little eyes staring at her.

"Its okay baby, its okay, don't worry," she murmured as soothingly as she could manage as she ran a comforting hand down the boy's warm cheek, "We're going to get you out of here. I will be right back."

Aria scrambled back through the small hole quicker than safe judgment allowed. When she remerged into the sunlight she was covered in cuts and bruises, but nothing that stopped her from climbing like mad back on top of the large boulder Orion Pax had first set her on.

"Hey!"

Orion Pax turned at the shout. Aria was waving at him wildly, gesturing for him to come over quickly.

Not caring if the newly freed architect saw what they were doing or not, Orion Pax walked over to Aria and knelt down so she was directly before him.

"What is it?" He asked quietly, wishing that Ariel was back with them to translate. If she was still functioning that is.

But he quickly shoved all thoughts and worries for the linguist aside, knowing they would only distract him from the present crisis. They weren't gone fast enough for him not to wonder if she had been anywhere near the explosion when it had gone off.

Aria pointed over at a pile of rubble much like the rest of them scattered throughout the square. Then before Orion Pax could try and have her explain what she meant, the little organic took off down the side of the torn apart metal fountain, jumping the last few feet to the ground.

"Ariah?" he asked, worried now. What could have her in such a frenzy?

The organic femme stopped at the base of the heap and pointed at it again.

"Wha-?" Orion Pax started to say, but Aria quickly cut him off, putting a finger to her mouth for silence. Confused, Orion Pax fell silent and listened.

A small wail reached his auditory receptors.

"Jazz!" Orion Pax yelled as he stepped over Aria towards the rubble. "There's a youngling over here!"

Jazz and Grapple both rushed over, trying not to step on too much scrap. With Aria pointing where it was safe to remove different pieces of scrap, the three mechs worked quickly. Not even a cycle passed before the body of the extinguished femme appeared, and not long after her, the bawling youngling.

Other survivors must have heard the youngling's loud wails because as soon as Jazz lifted the little bot out, other bots started appearing, some able to lift themselves free of the rubble, but most shouting for help.

By the end of it, there were a handful of mechs and one or two femmes left alive. Seeing them standing out of the ruin, speaking in hushed tones, buoyed Orion Pax's spark, but it was still painful to realize that they probably weren't even a tenth of the number that had been in the square at the time of the explosion.

"What happened?" and "Who did this?" were the most asked questions, but that didn't surprise Orion Pax so much. What did was when they turned to him and Jazz for answers.

Before he could even open his mouth to tell them he didn't know, a different voice appeared, loud and filled with an indignant fury.

"People of Cybertron!" It yelled, appearing out of nowhere to shock the cluster of still functioning bots. "I am Megatron! Please, hear my words. I reach out to you today in the hopes of correcting a grievous injustice that has been allowed to carry on for far too long."

Orion Pax looked around, but he didn't see this Megatron anywhere. "He must be using the DataNet to speak, possibly through a vid feed. If he is there must be a monitor around here somewhere." He told Jazz.

"There is," Grapple piped in from behind Orion Pax, "just over there." He pointed off to the right where the street Orion Pax and Jazz had first come through led back toward the busier streets, closer to the middle of the sector.

Orion Pax looked where the architect pointed and nodded. "Alright, I'll go and check it out. You may come if you wish, or you may stay here. I will return when I know more of what is going on." He said, raising his voice to address the small group of bots.

It turned out he didn't need to return. The other survivors ended up following him anyway, not wanting to be left behind alone in the ruin.

The monitor was large, mounted on the side of a dangerously leaning building, miraculously unbroken by the attack. On its screen a very distinctive mech, with angular facial features, burning red eyes, and more scars than Orion Pax could count, was speaking. Oddly enough, Orion Pax saw that Aria glared at the mech as soon as she laid optics on him.

But Megatron went on speaking, unaware of the organic's glare. "This caste system has trapped us according to the selfish whims of the High Council," Megatron boomed over the large monitor's equally large speakers, "they tell us that some are better than others, more deserving of power and freedom than those they believe are beneath them. They tell us what we may and may not do. What we are and what we are not.

"But who are they to say we are nothing?" Megatron very nearly shouted with his growing fervor. "Have they been made so much better than I? By what power were they made higher when we are made with the same parts, the same lubricants that the Thirteen themselves were made of?" He demanded.

"We are the same!" Megatron shouted. "The only difference between us and them is the divisions they have set to protect the power they have been given, mistakenly in my opinion."

Curiously, Orion Pax listened along with the rest of the banged up group. He felt a strange connection to this Megatron. Orion Pax couldn't help but agree with the gladiator's words; the caste was wrong and that needed to be addressed.

But looking around at the lifeless bodies of unfortunate Cybertronians and the dented, fearful frames of the ones lucky enough to still be functioning, Orion Pax could not bring himself to support the gladiator's methods.

"I ask that you join me," Megatron continued, "all of Cybertron join me in this revolt against the High Council and their caste system. Together we are stronger than they are. We will overthrow their oppressive regime and take freedom into our own hands. We will not let them rule our lives as they have done. Those that are not with us are against us and as such will be crushed as they deserve."

A frightened whine made Orion Pax turn away from the revolutionary on the monitor. The youngling Aria had found was clinging to one of the still functioning femmes. From the way the young mech clung to her, Orion Pax felt safe in assuming that the youngling already knew the older bot, a relative of his guardian possibly.

The femme turned toward her young charge. "Hush little one," she murmured soothingly to the youngling, "all will be well in the end."

But the youngling refused to be reassured. "But Starkeeper-" he whimpered sadly, his voice belying his young age. He was barely more than a sparkling, Orion Pax realized, and now his guardian was gone. The youngling probably didn't even really comprehend what had happened.

Orion Pax suddenly realized why Aria was glaring at Megatron's image.

Turning from the still speaking Megatron, Orion Pax found the device that linked the monitor to the DataNet he was so familiar with. It was almost nothing for him to tap into the Net from here, onto the same frequency that Megatron was currently using to give his speech.

Like everyone else who was familiar with the DataNet, Orion Pax had heard of Megatron before. He was of the industrial caste that worked the non-sentient machines down in Kaon. Never given a name, he had made one for himself through the underground gladiatorial matches held in the city. To this day Megatron had never lost a fight.

Maybe that was what gave him the wherewithal to attack the caste system, or maybe it was just his life in general. Either way, Orion Pax knew that this was not the first time he had spoken out against the system and the High Council that perpetuated it. However, looking over the readings coming from the DataNet port he had tapped into, this was certainly the largest. It looked as if Megatron was broadcasting to every monitor on Cybertron.

Which meant _he_ was now on every monitor on Cybertron.

Before he could think twice about what he had just one, the librarian's image flickered to life on the screen next to Megatron, much to everyone's surprise.

"I am Orion Pax, a worker at the Hall of Records in Iacon city." Orion Pax introduced himself, anger keeping his voice steady despite his misgivings. "I wish to speak with Megatron."

Megatron's image hardly registered any surprise. Perhaps he had been expecting something like this to happen, although certainly not from such a source. "And what do you wish to speak with me for Orion Pax? Have you come to tell me I am wrong? That I fail in my duty by going against the caste system set down by previous generations?" He asked almost sardonically.

"No," Orion Pax spoke firmly, his voice thundering from the monitor speakers behind him. Flinching slightly, he lowered his tone, but not the determined force with which he spoke. "I do believe in freedom," Orion Pax corrected him, "but what I do not believe in is the callous force you have used to try and achieve it. You have harmed more than your so called enemy today. Innocents as well as followers of the caste have died by your hand," Orion Pax's voice rose to a shout. He paused, realizing what he was doing and quickly reigned in his more violent emotions.

"But you don't care about them do you?" He asked in a much softer voice.

"I do," Megatron answered surprisingly, "however their deaths could not be avoided. They have died for a greater cause. Something I'm sure they would have believed in and died for of their own will."

"But you do not _know_ that," Orion Pax insisted. "For one who speaks so highly of personal freedom you do not even know what these bots wanted. They might have wanted to continue living rather then dying at _your_ decision, whether they believed in your revolution or not. And if they did agree with your view of the caste, they might have wished to pursue their freedom in a more peaceful manner, one that did not kill others just because they did not agree with them or were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Megatron did not answer Orion Pax right away. Instead he met the other mech's determined gaze. Orion Pax did not flinch away from the gladiator's cold, level stare. Megatron's speech had started out addressed to the whole of Cybertron, but somewhere along the way, things had become strangely personal. This was now between him and Orion Pax. Good luck to anyone who got in their way.

"I see," the gladiator finally said, his voice subdued, "you believe there is a better way to gain what we deserve as living, sentient, beings."

Orion Pax nodded.

"Well that is where you are wrong my friend," Megatron said with an almost smile on his face, "there is no better way. The High Council has not, and will never, relinquish its control over us. The only way to gain our freedom is to take it."

"No," Orion Pax argued, "the only way to gain freedom is to give it. For others to respect our decisions we must first respect theirs. Perhaps then, both will learn that their choices are their own and cannot be changed forcibly by others around them." Orion Pax told the gladiator firmly.

"An interesting idea," Megatron practically sneered. "However there is still one flaw with your suggestion."

Orion Pax met the revolutionary's steely gaze. "What is that?" He asked when Megatron did not go on.

"The High Council and their ilk do not respect us. They see the lower classes as tools to do their bidding. They view us as slaves just as much as the Quintessons did."

"Perhaps," Orion Pax conceded the point. "However, I fail to see how killing innocents and harming others will bring you respect."

Megatron was grinning again, an unpleasant action. "I am not surprised that a librarian such as you would fail to realize that force is one of the few things that the High Council will readily respect."

"Fear does not bring respect!" Orion Pax objected.

The gladiator leaned closer to his recording device, pinning the librarian with his red optics. "We shall see." Megatron told Orion Pax, deadly force hiding behind his words.

And with that the monitor went dead.

Nobody spoke, especially Orion Pax. He was too busy thinking. Megatron hadn't said it, and neither had he, but everybody knew that, unofficial though it was, there was no avoiding the unspoken parting words.

_"Then this is war."_


	11. Chapter 11: Optimus Prime

So my dad captured some Decepticons at home last night. He even texted me pictures see? \~Y~/ \./\./ \w/. I think I'm going to name them Happy (or possibly Irony), BirdEye, and Grumpy. (^,o^ Mrs. Mittens isn't so sure about this) Now if only I could find some Autobots to balance them out...

n_n I also wanted to give a great big thanks to Standout4Christ, Fk306 animelover, Birgitte LP, Noella 50881, Liliesshadow, and Nightmaskedfemme for their reviews. You guys are _wonderful_! And the rest of you, well, I guess I'm not copletely opposed to begging so..._pretty pretty please_ leave reviews! Hmm, maybe that was too much begging so do it if you want to (you want to, I know you do). I really want to know what you guys are thinking...Although this is now my most read story with almost 5,500 hits! Woo yeah! You guys are Great!

Anyway, I really hope you get into this chapter. The title should say it all...*sneakily raises eyebrows as she pictures peoples faces when they look at their inbox*

And to make matters even more interesting, today's posting coincides nicely with the release of Transformeres: Exiles, the second book to Exodus, which partially gave me the idea for this story in the first place so YAY! Now excuse me while I must run out and buy it right now! ;D

Oh! And to Nightmaskedfemme (whom I can't PM, sad): I'm extremely flattered! Thank you amazingly much. and I was just wondering, what's your very favorite story? I'm always looking for good stuff to read when I'm avoiding homework. Drop me a line somewhere.

...

I Lost A World!

11 – Optimus Prime – 11

The hall of the High Council was busier than anyone functioning remembered seeing it. Already the inner chambers were packed full of the lucky few mechs and femmes that had arrived early enough to get inside. What felt like the rest of the planet was crammed outside the now closed doors, hoping to catch even a glimpse of what was going on inside.

The occasion; the librarian Orion Pax had been called before the High Council on untold grounds.

No one was surprised by this exactly. Not even Orion Pax himself when an escort of the High Council's guard found him and the other survivors on the periphery of the circle of broken buildings and told him that the High Council had requested his presence immediately.

Ariel was a part of the restless crowd outside of the High Council's closed door. Determined to find out what was going to happen to Orion Pax she had pushed through the condensed crowd, stubbornly refusing to give up, but when the large, elaborate doors started to loom over her, impossibly tall and undeniably closed, Ariel stopped and looked around at the other bots surrounding her. Finally, she found who she was looking for, and shoved her way through the press of bodies as politely as she could.

"Chromia," She yelled when she was close enough. "Chromia!"

The other femme turned her head the second time, and spotted her friend in the heavy crowd of curious and frightened Cybertronians. Catching the eye of another guard to come and take her place, Chromia stepped off to the side of the building and waited for Ariel to join her.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," Chromia said when her friend and sister stepped into the relative peace that still existed in the shadow of the council chamber. "When I didn't hear from you I started to fear the worst."

"Sorry," Ariel quickly apologized, "the DataNet was damaged where I was. I only just got here. Do you know if there's any way in still?" She asked urgently.

Chromia laughed, relieved her friend was still alive. "Maybe for a glitch mouse yeah, but otherwise not a chance. They've had to call in extra guards just to make sure there was breathing space in the chamber."

Ariel looked up at the rounded side of the High Council's chamber, feeling impossibly small and insignificant next to such an imposing symbol of judicial power. For a moment the fear of the situation almost swamped her senses, turning her into a quivering mess.

She shivered once before she steeled herself against the hopelessness that threatened to creep up on her. Firmly reigning in her more desperate emotions, she turned back to her friend.

"Chromia, I know this is asking a lot, but I need to be in there. Please, is there any way you could let me inside?" Ariel asked.

Chromia felt a bit thrown by the severity of Ariel's request. But then she took in her friend's determined state and quickly pushed aside the urge to ask if she was teasing. She had known Ariel too long not to recognize this look, the one that said she would beg if that's what it took because she thought it was that important.

That still didn't stop her from asking, "Are you crazy? I can't just let you in like that Ariel. Do you know how much trouble I could get in if I just let my friends in whenever they told me to keep people out?"

"I know, I know," Ariel said, feeling slightly ashamed of herself for asking, but the self reproof wasn't enough to outweigh her feeling that she just _had_ to get inside. "I know it's a lot to ask," she said again, "but I've got to get in there. I don't know how but it's important, _please_."

The guardsfemme scrutinized the earnest look of Ariel's optics. "How important?" She finally asked.

"Life altering important," Ariel told her without skipping a beat. "I'm telling you Chromia something big is about to happen, maybe even more than one something. I don't know what it is or why I'm needed, but I've just got to get in there." Ariel pressed, praying that Chromia would believe her.

Strangely enough, Chromia did. This wasn't the first time Ariel had felt something so insistently. Her premonitions were vague, not to mention odd, but they were usually right too.

"Alright," the blue painted femme finally decided, "I'll take you in. But if we get caught I'm telling them this was all your bright idea." She added loudly, trying to add some sort of light to the otherwise terrifying situation.

Ariel cracked a smile. "You can tell them I overpowered you if that helps any."

Chromia laughed as she turned and led Ariel towards the back entrance. "Yeah, like they'd believe _that_."

Inside, the Council chamber was even more crowded than outside, something Ariel hadn't even thought possible. Metal bodies filled the public seating area, crammed so tightly together that there wasn't even any jostling room. But then, the audience hardly noticed. There attention was fixated solely on the High Council members as they filed into the chamber, solemn and reserved as befitted their official station.

Motioning for her to stay quiet, Chromia led the linguist through the back ways of the chamber until they came to an open doorway off to the side of the High Council. From where they stood, Ariel could see the backs of the council members, but that didn't bother her. Standing in the center of the room, nearly facing her full on, was Orion Pax.

Something eased in Ariel's spark, a relief that would have surprised her if she hadn't just lived through what was probably the onset of a planetary civil war. She was already so inundated with shock that a little more didn't even register.

Across the room, Aria was going through the same sense of shock overload from where she sat on Jazz's foot. Normally she would have felt exposed by her public position in the room full of alien robots, but everyone was so focused on the line of official looking bots seated in front of Orion Pax that they didn't notice her small form in their midst. Plus it helped that they rarely looked down.

And, like everyone else, Aria's attention was fixed solely on the robots in the center of the room. Unfortunately, unlike the rest of the watching crowd, Aria had no idea what the official bots were saying now, although she had a feeling it was overly serious and practically pompous.

Frustrated, Aria looked up at Jazz, but he was no help. His attention was on Orion Pax and the official robots speaking at him. Besides, he wouldn't have been able to tell her what was going on anyway.

Annoyed, and fearful for all the unexplained attention Orion Pax was receiving, Aria looked around the spherical room at all of the robots crowded around its edge just to see what was going on. She felt edgy, jumpy, and her knee wouldn't stop bobbing up and down because of it. She kept thinking about the explosion, about the child robot and his dead mother, and about that horrifying figure that had appeared on the large screen, shouting and ranting with a frightening passion. Watching him shout had reminded Aria of the recording of Hitler she had watched in her sophomore English class; a charismatic man on tape that wanted to save the world by destroying it.

The comparison made Aria shudder and she quickly looked back at Orion Pax standing in the middle of the room, facing the line of questioning robots. She had felt so relieved when he had started arguing against the scarred robot, almost safe as she stood in his protective shadow. She had never doubted his kindness, but it wasn't until then that she realized he could be truly great.

A glimpse of rosy-red drew Aria out of her anxious thoughts and made her look across the room. With a mixture of surprise and relief, Aria saw that it was Ariel. She and another female were standing in the doorway, just out of sight of most of the bots in the chamber. She gave Jazz one look before getting up and threading her way through the various metal legs standing between her and the linguist.

Ariel was so intent on Orion Pax and the High Council that she didn't notice the little bipedal creature making its way towards her. One of the councilors was asking how Orion Pax had broken through the frequency that Megatron had used. Ariel bridled at the mech's insinuation that it was because Orion Pax was in league with the gladiator, but to his credit, if he felt anything similar at the insult, Orion Pax did not show it.

"Of all the nerve," Ariel muttered as Orion Pax explained that, as a data clerk, he was very familiar with the DataNet.

Aria was close enough to hear her low words. She had paused at the edge of the metal forest of legs. Before her, a large empty space separated her from the side door Ariel and her friend were listening through. With nothing to hide her, it would be easy for someone to spot her moving across the floor.

Briefly, Aria's fear of being caught by a robot a whole lot less friendly than Orion Pax and his friends warred with her desire to know what was happening to her metal friend. There was a brief struggle, and then Aria dashed across the open floor.

"What the heck is _that_?"

Chromia's murmured question made Ariel turn away from the events in the chamber just in time to see a little, familiar, bipedal form come running across the unsheltered floor.

"Aria?" She asked, feeling some confusion. What was the organic femme doing here of all places?

Chromia had a very different reaction however. When Aria didn't stop or turn away from them, she pulled out her miniature ion cannon and aimed it at the incoming organic.

Aria kept coming, whether oblivious to her immediate danger or more afraid of being spotted by the mass of bots crowded in the chamber Ariel couldn't tell, and didn't really care.

"No!" She hissed at her friend, throwing her weight on Chromia's arm to keep her sights off of Aria.

"What are you doing?" Chromia immediately demanded, her gaze flickering between Ariel and the creature now only a few feet from them.

"Wait, _stop!_ She won't hurt us. I doubt she even could." Ariel said quickly, hoping Chromia would listen to her.

The blue and silver guard's optics widened. "Don't tell me you actually know what that thing is!"

Ariel nodded. "Yes, she's a friend, an organic that somehow stumbled through the space bridge. She won't harm anybody."

"A what?" Chromia practically shouted. Ariel shushed her with a nervous look beyond the door, but if anyone had heard, they weren't paying the two femmes any mind.

"Are you serious?" Chromia demanded, but this time in a much quieter voice. "That thing's an alien?"

"Yes, yes, and she's harmless," Ariel persisted, still hanging onto Chromia's cannon arm, "just _please_ promise you won't shoot her!"

Aria was right in front of them now. She must have finally sensed her possible danger because she looked up at the two struggling femmes with something almost like suspicion, but not quite as drastic.

Chromia glared down at the organic, then back at Ariel. "Alright, _fine_," she hissed, not at all happy about it, "just please get off of me."

Ariel did, taking a step back to give her irritated friend some space.

"I cannot _believe _this is happening!" Chromia practically growled with another severe look at Aria, but she did put her cannon away, much to everyone's relief.

Slowly, hoping not to startle the wary little organic, Ariel knelt in front of her. "Aria what are you doing here?" She asked softly so as not to be overheard.

Chromia watched as the little creature threw out an arm to point at the mech standing in the center of the room before the High Council. Her words were rushed and harried as she spoke with Ariel in a language Chromia had never heard before.

"Ugh!" The guard growled impatiently, cutting off the little creature and making both her and Ariel turn to look at her. "If you're going to talk with the little thing then at least let me listen in. I would like to know what the heck is going on."

Slowly, Ariel nodded. They had been friends for so long that, castes or not, each femme had shared a little of what they did with the others. Chromia had taught Ariel how to shoot and Ariel had shown Chromia how to understand other languages by tapping into the linguist's processors.

Chromia gave Ariel a short nod of thanks before reaching out a hand to the pink femme's shoulder. The touch was enough of a contact for Ariel to share her limited knowledge of the organic's native language.

"Go on Aria," Ariel told the little creature when Chromia was situated.

"Jazz brought me," Aria told them, choosing to wonder at the femme's argument at a later date when she had time for curiosity. "But I don't understand what's going on. Who are those robots? And why are they interrogating Orion Pax?" She asked worriedly, pointing over at where the members of the High Council sat, asking Orion Pax question after mindless question.

"They are the High Council, the ruling body of out planet," Ariel told her, "And they are not interrogating him."

Chromia snorted.

The linguist shot her friend a look that told her to kindly keep her opinions to herself before turning back to Aria. "They are asking him about what happened earlier this day and his part in it."

"His part?" Aria asked, sounding incredulous, "They want to know about his part? How about saving me and rescuing a bunch of others from that psychotic thing that blew up half the city? If they think Orion Pax had anything to do with that sadistic creep I'll-I'll-"

"You'll what?" Chromia broke in. "Bring them down to your level and shake them down until they believe you?"

Aria was too angry now to recognize the skeptical ring to the guard's words. "Yes." She answered forcefully.

That made Chromia laugh. "I think I'm beginning to like her," she admitted to Ariel in their own language.

"Glad you approve," Ariel murmured. She turned back to the little organic, but before she could speak, a loud, powerful voice cut through the chamber.

"That is enough Ratbat; we are not here today to ask about what we already know. We are here to determine what to do about it."

The three femmes, metal and organic, turned to see that the source of the voice was an old mech, stiff necked and seated in a place of honor near the center.

"That is Halogen, the council speaker." Ariel whispered to Aria.

"Pompous old fool," Chromia muttered, adding her own enlightenment to the young human.

"And are we so sure that we know what happened that we should not question a mech that was there to witness it first hand?" A sly little voice asked from the far end of the chamber. The councilor Ratbat was sitting on top of his podium somewhat irreverently, ignoring the crowd in the gallery as he looked over at the council speaker.

"Considering that he is the only one who spoke with this Megatron, yes." Halogen retorted. Then he solemnly turned back to Orion Pax. "Enlighten us data clerk, why did you confront Megatron, even after seeing what he had done?" The old mech asked, sounding far too disinterested for any of the femmes' likings.

But Orion Pax did not flinch. Instead he stood strong in the middle of the room, directly before Halogen and the rest of the councilors, carefully considering his next words. Few could have been more out of place then he. This was not a place for a librarian.

But it was sort of odd. Orion Pax didn't _feel_ much like just a librarian anymore. The fire that had appeared when he first realized that what Megatron had done was not just wrong, but evil, still burned bright in his spark, filling him with a strength he had never known he had. Even here, in this grand hall where the legend of the fathers of his race – the Thirteen themselves – was supposedly represented by the thirteen councilors that ruled the different aspects of Cybertron, Orion Pax did not fear for himself.

No, rather he feared for everyone else, for Cybertron itself, because he knew, spark-deep, that if the caste system did not destroy them, then Megatron, in his pursuit to 'free' them, would.

"Because I could not sit by and watch him commit such an atrocity unchallenged." Orion Pax answered firmly. "Because what Megatron did was evil in the greatest sense of the word," and here he gazed hard at each councilor in turn, "even if his goal was just."

Several of the councilors leaned away from their podiums, affronted by his unspoken words. However before they could protest, Orion Pax continued.

"There is no doubt in me that what Megatron did was wrong, however I would be blind if I did not see the corruption of which he speaks."

Orion Pax spread his arms wide. "Where in the Thirteen's covenant does it say that this is how we should live? Where does it even mention the idea of 'caste'?

"It doesn't." Orion Pax answered his own question. "Believe me, I know. I have spent most of my life pouring through the DataNet, organizing records and sorting through new information as my caste is supposed to do. _It is not there._"

"But to disregard the castes would welcome anarchy," the councilor who was head of the guilds protested in shock that anyone would truly think that life without his structure would be good, "the castes ensure our peace-"

Orion Pax flung an arm out passionately towards the door and the broken world that lay beyond. "Does this look like peace to you?" He demanded, his booming voice filling the chamber.

The councilor shrank back, giving no answer.

"We do not have peace," Orion Pax continued, his voice strong and ardent, "we live in a stasis, where nothing changes, nobody _grows_, for better or for worse. That is not life and it certainly is not the freedom we fought and died for when the Quintessons came. What we have now is no less slavery than what they would have condemned us to, only now the threat does not come from outside, but from our own ranks, from those who wish to imagine themselves better then their fellows. And,"

Orion Pax seemed to finally remember who he was talking to. He reached for his usual sense of calm and level headedness, but could only grasp so much in the face of his firm belief. "And it is not right." He finished when he trusted himself enough not to get back on his soapbox again, and before the High Council no less.

There was a long cycle of complete silence, even from the gallery, which had been adding its own background noise throughout the meeting so far. He could practically feel their stunned gazes on the back of his head. From the council, however, most were not so much stunned as stupefied. Although Halogen, at least, watched him almost appraisingly, as if he was mentally weighing Orion Pax's fervent words.

From the side door, Ariel watched Orion Pax, marveling at the change in him that had happened practically over the lunar cycle. Her first impression of the librarian when Jazz introduced them was that he was meek, obedient to others with little questioning of authority. And then she had watched him promise Aria, a little organic he barely knew anything about, that he would help her find her sister, come what may, and her opinion of him had changed, just a little. He was kind, she saw, and as Aria put it, sweet.

But now, now he was more than that. Ariel could still see the humble, kind Orion Pax in the mech that stood against the High Council, but that was only a fraction of who he was. He was becoming…something more.

Aria saw it too. Only instead of feeling shock and awe, like Ariel, the human girl smiled, proud of her large, metal friend for stepping up and saying what he believed in. She had known he could. Anyone who cared so much for a little creature like her, alien and strange, had more than what it took to help his own, and to her mind somewhat dysfunctional, race.

Chromia was just as surprised as her friend. But since she didn't know the data clerk as well as Ariel did, she merely felt impressed rather than the budding affection Ariel was starting to feel in her spark.

All three of them, as well as most of the mechs and femmes crowding the High Council's chamber, felt like they were coming into the presence of someone who would become a legend.

Orion Pax could not fathom why everyone was staring in amazement at him. For Primus' sake he was still a data clerk, no matter what he said and no matter how firmly he believed in his words.

Finally, Halogen leaned forward, staring down Orion Pax. "And do you believe in what you have just said Orion Pax? Truly believe in it?" He asked, his soft voice not quite breaking the silence of the room.

Orion Pax nodded. "More than anything." He murmured, resolute.

The councilors all looked at each other, a disbelief that had nothing to do with the change in Orion Pax and everything to do with what he had said overtaking them.

"I don't believe it."

"He was right."

"Word for word."

"It just can't be possible."

"Him? Certainly this must be some sort of jest."

Halogen's voice finally cut through the quiet clamor of his fellows. "It is just as Alpha Trion said." He said, his optics boring into Orion Pax, never leaving his frame.

A harsh laugh cut through the awed amazement that was overtaking eleven of the councilors. All eyes turned to Ratbat, where the small mech lounged on his podium, his eyes scornful as he smirked at Orion Pax.

"You must be joking Halogen. Him? Our new leader? And just because some old coot with a codex says it should be so? You all can't be buying this load of slag." He said derisively.

Shock and fury at Ratbat's words warred inside of Orion Pax. Fury quickly won, shock being dismissed as a mishearing on his part. Ratbat obviously could not have said what Orion Pax _thought_ he had said. It was impossible.

"Alpha Trion is one of the wisest Cybertronians functioning sir," Orion Pax said, glowering at the smug little councilor, "and a very good friend of mine. If you will kindly resist from mocking him."

If anything, Ratbat seemed to grow smugger. "You see? He even admits it. This is clearly just some plot to replace Sentinel Prime with someone Alpha Trion can pull by the strings."

Orion Pax felt his hands ball into fists, but he managed to restrain himself from knocking the smallest councilor off of his podium. Violence now would not help him, would probably only hurt his cause instead, although he did wish that the smirking mech would start making sense.

"Enough Ratbat!" Halogen shouted, regaining control of the meeting. "What Orion Pax said is true. Alpha Trion is wise, wiser than us at any rate, and far too proud to use tactics so underhanded. I have not lost faith in him yet and neither should you. If Alpha Trion has said that our next Prime shall be Orion Pax, then it shall be so."

"What?" Orion Pax yelped. He couldn't help it.

"What?" Ariel breathed.

"What? What did he say?" Aria looked up at Ariel and Chromia, knowing she was missing something important. "What does that mean?"

But Ariel was too stunned to answer her.

"It means they are going to make him our next _leader_." Chromia whispered to the little organic. Even she was taken fully by surprise.

"Oh," was all Aria had to say.

Halogen met Orion Pax's bewildered optics. "As advanced as we are Orion Pax even we have our mysticisms and legends. All of our Primes have come to us in our times of deepest need, putting the good of the people before all else. You are no exception."

"But, but Sentinel Prime," Orin Pax stammered, his processors threatening to stall altogether.

"Was extinguished in Megatron's attack." Halogen said, his face somber. "Alpha Trion came to us when it happened, before any of us even knew. He told us that our Prime was gone and, since Sentinel had not chosen his successor himself, that we must charge the next one with his duty when he was presented to us. Then he read us the signs of how we would know our new Prime when he appeared. It is undoubtedly you Orion Pax."

Disbelief ran in circles around Orion Pax's processors. _"How is this possible?"_ He kept asking himself even though he had just heard how.

"You should feel honored Orion Pax; Alpha Trion has seen something of great consequence within you. He believes you have the makings of a true Prime, in every sense of the word."

_"I know he does."_ Ran through several heads. Namely Ariel and Aria, although Jazz was thinking something similar.

"From this day forward," Halogen suddenly announced, his booming voice carrying across the crowded chamber, "you are no longer Orion Pax, but Optimus Prime."

Whoever he suddenly was, his head was still spinning.

"Optimus Prime." The crowd echoed, following ceremony.

Somewhere in the echoes of the verbal salute, Aria giggled proudly.

_ "He's going to be magnificent." _She thought, grinning widely.


	12. Chapter 12: Insist and Resist

Sweet, ask and you shall receive. You guys are so awesome! Thanks oodles and oodles (ha ha, such a funny word oodles...oh right, focus) to everyone that reviewed! I want so much to list you all out but I feel like this things a little top heavy as it is. ^u.u^ Sad, I know Mrs. Mittens. But that's what replies are for, to show return love from review love. ^n.n^ *purrs a yes* :) I feel so much better. (Which is something because tomorrow's Wednesday and those seem to be getting more and more difficult as the semester wears on, but you all make them so much more wonderful!)

Speaking of semesters I heard some very familiar words in Latin class recently. Like Pax, and Prime, and Elita, or variances thereof. If that catches your attention I've put a little rant in my profile abut them. Why you ask? Because I'm a word freak. Plain and simple. That's actually why I took Latin in the first place instead of Spanish. So many etymologies to learn! Squeak!

Alright, I'm going to contain my giggling glee for a moment so that I can just say upfront that I know Alpha Trion is a little OC, but what else can I say? It's like when I went to write him, he just came out this way, like it was completely natural. Personally, I think he's trying to tell me that he has a hidden sense of humor, but what do I know? I'm just the writer he may or may not be possessing long distance (hopefully not for very long seeing as I can't afford those kind of charges that come with intergalactic possessions on my credit card). Anyway, I really like my version of him and I hope you will too. So enjoy. :3

...

I Lost A World!

12 – Insist and Resist – 12

The three femmes, along with Jazz, met with the new Prime outside the High Council's chamber.

"Prime," Jazz intoned overly respectful, giving his old friend a little bow and a playful smirk.

The newly dubbed Optimus Prime looked almost horrified. "Don't tell me you believe all this," he asked, trying very hard to keep his voice down so as not to attract too much attention. He shouldn't have even tried. Already the whisper was going out that there was a new Prime, and he was standing not twenty feet away.

Jazz's playful demeanor instantly dropped away. "What? You don't?"

Optimus Prime anxiously rubbed at his head. "I'm just a data clerk-" he tried to say.

By then the crowd had started to surge forward, wanting to catch a look at their new leader. The guards that had been stationed at the door of the High Council's chamber came forward, barring the way as the crowd's whispers led them forward.

"Perhaps here is not the best place to discuss this," Ariel said, striving for calm and barely half succeeding. She wasn't sure what to think about what had just happened. Even with the space around them given by the guards, she had to raise her voice in order to be heard.

Optimus nodded, still in a state of shock. "Yes, I believe I know the perfect place to go."

Chromia suddenly stepped forward, making her presence known for the first time. "Just say the word and I'll get you there Optimus Prime." She said smartly, saluting as she did.

"Oh no, I couldn't impose-" he tried to say.

But it seemed that Optimus Prime got cut off more than Orion Pax had. "Social change or not I am still a guard sir and proud to do my duty by you. Besides," Chromia added with a significant look at her long time friend standing next to her, not that Ariel noticed, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

...

With Chromia's escort, the small group arrived at the Hall of Records in little time. The news from the council chamber must not have arrived here yet, because Optimus found very little resistance getting inside. Co-workers he knew, the odd acquaintance, all treated him as they had every other orbit he had come here.

Quickly Orion Pax led the small party up several levels, past rows of old codex records that had long ago been transcribed into the DataNet by others such as himself, until finally they reached the office of the Archivist, the mech that kept order in Iacon's Hall of Records.

Optimus had barely knocked before a soft, "Come in," came through the closed door. Carefully, Optimus let himself in, the others trailing in behind him as he respectfully acknowledged the mech that, up until a handful of cycles ago, had been his immediate superior.

The old mech known as Alpha Trion sitting behind the desk looked knowingly up from the even older codex he always had on his desk, quill in hand. "I had a feeling you would be coming soon," he glanced over at the others that had followed Optimus all the way from the council chamber, "although perhaps not with such as entourage."

"These are my friends," Optimus quickly explained, feeling a bit awkward and very unsure of himself. "I asked if they would come with me." He hadn't actually, but he was glad they had followed all the same.

Alpha Trion nodded slowly as he closed his book, large fingers keeping his place until a suitable bookmark could be found. When he had marked his place, he folded his arms on the desk in front of him and looked up at his former data clerk. "Well go on," he finally said, "best to let it all out at once I think."

Optimus Prime paced nervously in front of Alpha Trion's desk while the others hung back near the far wall, watching curiously, wondering what the old mech was talking about.

"How is this possible?" Optimus finally demanded. "With all the respect that is due to you Alpha Trion, I am just a data clerk. How can _I _be the next Prime? Alpha Trion what is happening?" He finally asked, sounding very alarmed as he stopped in front of Alpha Trion, hands spread wide next to his sides to express his extreme confusion.

"Is that all?" The old mech asked patiently.

It wasn't. "And what is all this about myths and legends and signs pointing towards me to save everybody? Since when does the High Council listen to prophecies?"

"Anything else?" The Archivist raised an optic ridge.

"Yes!" Optimus Prime started pacing again. "What in the world is going on?"

Alpha Trion fell quiet, nodding to himself at the end of his younger friend's outburst. "You always did have a tendency to over think things Optimus," he murmured, speaking the former data clerk's new name as if he had been using it for ages.

"I'll second that," Jazz added from where he leaned against the wall next to the door, arms crossed over his chest.

Somewhat stiffly, Alpha Trion stood and came around his desk. "I will start with the book." He said, reverently touching the cover of the old book on his desk. "It is where all the signs are written, other then that it is none of your business, so kindly leave it alone." He said, not sounding entirely cross. "And you would be surprised how long the High Council has listened to the somewhat, how shall I put this, far fetched words of an old mech like me, especially when it pertains to the book. Let's see, what else did you ask?"

"How he could be made Prime." Jazz added sounding slightly irritated at his friend's doubt.

"Ah yes, that was it." Alpha Trion said stepping closer to the still anxious Optimus. "Well, as for that, did you ever think that maybe you are asking the wrong question Optimus?"

Optimus waited a long cycle, but his old mentor did not speak. "And what would be the right question then?" He finally asked.

Alpha Trion smiled slightly. "Who are you _not_ to be Prime?"

The question threw Optimus for a loop and he fell silent, thinking.

"Well, now if you are done doubting yourself," Alpha Trion said after giving Optimus a moment of quiet to soak in this new idea, "perhaps we can get down to the urgent business."

"Urgent business?" Ariel asked her voice soft.

Alpha Trion locked his wise old optics on her, taking her in before giving her a small, endearing smile, as if he recognized her as someone he had known for a long time. "In case you haven't noticed my dear, a maniac set off bombs all over the planet. Something must be done about him."

Ariel blinked, feeling chided despite the old mech's soft tone. "Undoubtedly," she said, "but what is the best course of action?"

Chromia laughed, a hard sound. "Kick his aft of course. Murderers like him don't deserve mercy." She said, her eyes going hard at the memory of Megatron lording over the murders of thousands of innocent Cybertronians.

"No."

Everyone looked over at the soft sound of Optimus Prime's voice.

"No?" Chromia asked, frowning slightly.

"No," Optimus said again, at the very least outwardly calm, although some of his self doubt still remained etched around the corners of his mouth, "if there is to be a war, we shall not be the ones to start it. Not until every other option has been exhausted." He said somewhat hesitantly, but his voice was firm.

Chromia shifted her weight angrily and scowled at him, much to Ariel's embarrassment. "I hate to break it to you Prime, but Megatron already started this war when he set explosives throughout the continents. And while I'm not so sure about having you in charge, I know for sure I don't want _him_."

Everyone in the room, even Optimus, nodded, agreeing with her last words.

"I understand," he said anyway, sounding grave, "however I will give him the chance for surrender for now. Hopefully he will take it before anyone else gets hurt."

"You really think he will turn himself in?" Ariel asked softly.

Optimus vented a frustrated sigh. "No, however I will offer it anyway. Perhaps when he sees the change in leadership, and hears what I plan to do, he will give up trying to attain freedom through force and will work with me instead of fighting against me."

Even Optimus realized how much like wishful thinking that sounded.

"But until then," he quickly continued, trying to think through everything at once and doing a fairly good job of it, "until then we need to start repairing the damage done by his explosives and honor those who were extinguished before their time."

"And use the time to build up our own supplies, just in case." Chromia muttered, ever the warrior.

Optimus heard her. "Yes," he intoned, "just in case."

A loud 'ACHOO!' cut through the severity of the moment.

Everyone looked down to see Aria rubbing at her nose before she sneezed again, all the dust from the ancient records irritating her nose.

"Oh my," Alpha Trion said in mild surprise when he had leaned far enough over his desk to catch sight of the little organic. "I do apologize; I did not see you there." He said before looking over at Optimus. "And who is this?" He asked.

"Ariah," Optimus answered.

Jazz and Chromia snorted laughter.

"An organic." Jazz said sounding amused.

"An alien." Chromia said in the same instant sounding as if she still could not quite believe it rather than amused.

For the first time since they had arrived, Alpha Trion looked truly surprised.

"Really?" He asked softly as he peered back down at the organic femme. Aria, for her part, stared back up at him, smiling at the familiar look of shock on his face. It was so weird getting this reaction from everybody she met.

"What is she doing now?" Alpha Trion asked as Aria looked over at Optimus and silently pointed up at the top of the desk.

"I believe she wants to meet you." Optimus said before carefully leaning down and offering Aria his palm. With a deep breath, she stepped on and held tight to the large mech's thumb before closing her eyes. She only squeaked fearfully once as Optimus lifted her onto his mentor's desk. Personally, the new Prime was impressed.

"I think I'm getting better at this whole being carried several stories above the floor thing," Aria muttered, slightly breathless, as she leaned heavily against the metal stand Alpha Trion had set his quill in, trying to reassure her thumping heart.

But then she opened her eyes to find glowing blue optics staring at her from only a foot away and she jumped up with a shout, her heart beating double time before her feet hit the desktop again.

"Well the book certainly didn't mention this," Alpha Trion murmured as he peered intently at the little being that barely would have reached his ankle joint, "at least not that I could tell." He admitted after another moment of staring.

Aria was beginning to feel like an ant under a large, blue, magnifying glass. Not wanting to take her eyes off of this new person for too long, she quickly glanced over at Orion Pax, who was watching them anxiously.

"What's he doing?" She hissed, starting to freak out from the stranger's undiluted attention.

Fortunately for the little human's rising apprehension levels, Ariel stepped forward, leaning down near to Aria to speak in her usual calm, serene voice.

"Aria, this is the Archivist, Alpha Trion, one of the oldest and wisest members of our race. He means you no harm. He is just curious by your presence." She tried to explain, but even the linguist wished that the old mech would remember himself and stop staring at the organic femme as if she was a specimen on a slide. It was unnerving to say the least.

Aria found it even more so, however she wasn't about to let one freaky old man frighten her. Not after living through that decimating blast when so many others hadn't.

So instead of running and hiding behind the metallic pencil holder like she wanted very much to do (because apparently even some aliens still used pencils), Aria placed one foot behind the other and bowed as elegantly as she could to the old mech.

Alpha Trion leaned back, obviously surprised by Aria's action. To be fair, so was everyone else, especially the ones that already knew her.

But the odd gesture paid off. "My, my, what a delightful little creature," Alpha Trion murmured approvingly, undoubtedly pleased with her formal reaction. "Why didn't you bring her by earlier Optimus?"

Sensing there was no way he could win, Optimus rolled his optics. "Must have slipped my processors," he mumbled at his mentor.

"Yes, well," Alpha Trion began, his train of thought momentarily derailed, "is she self aware or some sort of pet then?"

Jazz laughed.

"No!" Optimus instantly protested. "She's lost! I took her in because I wasn't sure what else to do with her at first and then, well," he trailed off not sure how to explain his reasoning without sounding foolish.

"Then she got him wrapped around her little digits." Jazz filled in for him, still holding back laughter.

Optimus was so stunned he didn't know what to say. He just stared at his oldest friend with his mouth hanging slightly open.

Chromia was quick to join in the fun. "Yes, she's quite the keeper." She added, grinning mercilessly.

Being teased by a complete stranger only sunk Optimus into a deeper embarrassment.

With as much fun as they were having poking fun at the large mech, no one noticed how quiet Ariel had grown. No one that is, but Alpha Trion, who studied her with almost as much intensity as he had watched Aria, only now his idle curiosity had been replaced with thoughtful musing and a growing sense of approval.

_"So this is his Chosen One eh?"_ He thought, remembering several harder to read passages from the closed book sitting in front of him. They had been made up of enough future characters that they had remained mostly a mystery to the perceiving mech's optics, however enough of the words were still in present use that he had gleaned the basic, if not slightly vague, gist of what the passage foretold.

A small noise cut through the jesting atmosphere that had sprung up with Aria's noticed presence. Almost as one, the five Cybertronians turned and looked over at the little organic. She was still standing on Alpha Trion's cluttered desk. Only instead of leaning on the quill stand, she had made her way over to the old Archivist's left where she had found the data pad he had been looking at before Optimus had knocked on his door. She was trembling as she stared down at the images displayed on the pad's screen.

Alpha Trion felt the heaviness of things to come re-enter his spark. He no longer needed the data pad to know what the young organic femme was looking at. The images had burned themselves onto his processors, never to be forgotten.

Optic ridges furrowed in worry, Optimus Prime came over to the other side of Alpha Trion's desk to see what it was that had his little house guest so upset. Slowly, as if he was afraid to see what was on the data pad, he reached out to pick the device up. He nearly threw it down again when he saw what it showed.

There were more images of destroyed Cybertronians on Alpha Trion's data pad then Aria could count, all in pieces and all strewn about the ruined ground as if they were nothing more than dolls a spoiled child had torn apart during a temper tantrum. The thought of all those people killed so frivolously stabbed at the human's heart like a knife.

_"It isn't right,"_ she thought as the tears came to sting at her eyes, _"how can anyone _do_ this to another living creature?"_

Optimus Prime was asking himself much of the same thing as he looked through the images on Alpha Trion's data pad. He wanted to stop, to look away from the lightless optics and extinguished sparks that met him at every turn, but he knew he couldn't.

_"This is what will happen if I fail."_ He told himself. _"This is what Megatron has planned for Cybertron."_

He would not let it happen. He would save them. Somehow.

It occurred to him that it would be much easier to first save one being before he tried to save a planet full of them.

"Ariah," he finally murmured into the heavy silence of the room. His organic friend looked up at him and he saw she was leaking again, the whites of her optics red with sorrow.

Optimus thought he could understand how she felt as he knelt down to be eye level with the soft-body standing on his mentor's desk.

"Ariah," Optimus nearly choked on the words he knew he needed to say, "Ariah, you must leave."

But the little organic only blinked at him and carefully wiped at her leaking optics.

Not wanting to shirk this duty by passing it on for Ariel to translate, Optimus gently shooed Aria to the far end of the desk and pointed out the sturdy window that stood behind Alpha Trion. Clearly, he pointed out at where the white beam of the space bridge stood in the outskirts of Iacon.

Beginning to catch on, Aria stared up at Optimus Prime, her red optics going wide.

"No!" She cried, "No, I can't leave! I won't!"

Optimus didn't need Ariel's talents to know his small friend was protesting.

"You must," he told her patiently, "this is not your war. If you stay you will most likely be killed, young Ariah, and I cannot let that happen to you."

Aria's head whipped around when Ariel spoke up from where she still stood against the far wall. The human girl looked back up in horror as the rose colored femme translated Optimus' words.

"No. NO!" Aria yelled, her muscles going rigid with held in anger and frustration as more tears coursed down her face. _"I will not run,"_ she told herself, _"No matter how afraid I am I will not run."_

Optimus Prime leaned down closer to the human girl. Despite the close proximity of a head that was easily twice as tall as she was, Aria stood her ground, meeting Optimus Prime's determined gaze. Stubborn blue eyes met glowing blue optics. When Aria finally spoke, her words were slow and concise, even though she knew most of her audience had no idea what she was saying.

"I am not leaving without my sister." She told them, a period after every word.

Her tone left them with no room for argument.

"Well," Alpha Trion finally said when Ariel had told them exactly what the little organic had said, "I guess that's settled then, unless you care to try and kidnap her or something similar." He said with a straight face as he looked over at his new Prime. But when Optimus did not speak, the old mech continued briskly. "Now, back to business. We have much work to do and only so little time to do it I am afraid."

A deep boom suddenly thundered through the empty sky. Aria felt her heart leap into her throat as fear flooded her system. Immediately, everyone's attention was drawn to the window.

Far off in the distance, well outside Iacon's city limits, a tower of smoke, thick and black, rose in ominous warning as the plains below it burned with the force of the violent explosion.

Slowly, Optimus Prime stepped closer to the window, hands balling into fists by his side as he took in the immense destruction taking place before him.

Alpha Trion's sorrowful murmur was the only voice to brave the horrified silence. "Maybe even less then I feared."


	13. Chapter 13: In The Thick of It

I'm so happy that I don't have an emoticon with big enough eyes to express myself. .n_n. Much thanks to Noella 50881, Ryle Culler, Birgitte LP, Fk306 animelover, DeathByLackofMusic, Suzumehime, Nighmaskedfemme, Rockubyebaby, and my anonymous reviewer for, well, your reviews of course. You guys rock. Actually, all of you who've read and reviewed rock. _Awesomely_. Did you know this is my most looked at story with over _7,000_ _hits_? Isn't that amazing? I think it is. Once again, no smiley face big enough. ^n.n^ *purr* You said it Mrs. Mittens!

Now here's lucky chapter number 13, which is nice and long. I really like it even if Aria's new toy is a bit dorky (but hey, she's got to have some kind of self defense right?) Hope you love this installment and please feel free to leave many more awesome reviews. ;3

Oh, and Nightmaskedfemme - Ironhide? Where's Ironhide you ask? Well all the answer I have to that is - ahem - Evil Laughter! Mwuhahahahahahahahah_ha_!

^,,^;

...

I Lost A World!

13 – In The Thick of It – 13

_And so, war came to Cybertron._

The black words glared back at Aria from the white page of the little, pocket sized diary she was growing more and more grateful for. Even now, the full meaning of the words hadn't sunk in. They were just too big an idea for her to comprehend in just a few days. Despite the overwhelming panic and fear at Megatron's ruthless and unexpected attacks, Aria could no more believe she was in the middle of an alien civil war than she could that she was a giant, pink panda wearing a fairy princess costume.

Movement outside her hollow shook her out of her daze. Aria looked over to see Wheeljack and Ratchet moving something she didn't recognize to make room for another something she didn't recognize. The two mechs had been some of the first to throw in their support for Orion Pax and had been modifying equipment and helping to make plans for the coming war ever since.

"_Only he is Optimus Prime now."_ Aria reminded herself for what felt like the millionth time that day. Even now, more than a week after the High Council's proclamation, she kept thinking of the large robot as Orion Pax. Scratch outs proving her slow adaptation littered the last few pages of her impromptu diary.

Aria didn't have the details of what was going on, but she knew that the two mechs rummaging in the room beyond were setting up an emergency medical station for if, when, things went…bad.

But she quickly shook her head to scatter those more morose thoughts. Stubbornly, Aria turned back to her writing.

_I don't know how long I've been here – I lost track of the days when I got sick – but it feels long, hopefully longer than it has been. If I had to guess maybe we've been here for a few months? Maybe three or four at the outside, although to be honest sometimes it feels like years. There's been no sign of Sera and it's not like there's been any time to look for her. I hate to think of what's happened to her, but I know she's alive. And even if, God forbid, she isn't, I'm not leaving until I see her. Even if it means staying for this war._

Aria sighed shakily at the very thought, but that didn't change her resolve. She was not leaving without her little sister and that was that.

"No matter what," Aria muttered to herself before moving her pen to a new paragraph.

_ Not that I don't do my part. However much of a Thumbelina I am compared to them, I'm still glad I can help my friends. Mostly they have me doing search and rescue because I can get into small places where Cybertronians are trapped. That is, if Ori-I mean, Optimus Prime lets me out at all. For someone that isn't actually related to me, he's awfully overprotective. I know he means well, but I still want to help them._

Aria rolled her eyes at the thought of the overprotective mech. Just the other day he had actually had Wheeljack baby sit her. Of course that plan had backfired when the inventor's current project had exploded. Impressively. Aria thought that it must have been some kind of stunning device because the two of them had been stuck there paralyzed for the next few _hours._

But no one else, _especially _Optimus, needed to know about that, Aria decided as she once again put pen to paper.

_For some reason I cannot understand – but it's probably because Optimus is a way more compassionate hu-eh, living being than I am – Optimus offered Megatron a chance to turn himself in for the large scale murders he committed. The red-eyed monster refused of course and the first real blows of the war were exchanged a few days later at a place called Fort Syck. Sadly the Decepticons, Megatron's name for his cruelly minded movement, quickly overran the fort, killing almost everyone inside._

Aria had to stop a moment, her pen beginning to shake too much for her to write legibly. _"All those lives…"_ she couldn't help but mourn.

But eventually she turned her attention back towards what else she should write about. What else was there that she might possibly need to remember if she ever left this place?

She was hesitant to admit it, but the thought alone made her sad, even as she felt relieved to think of returning to her nice, safe home far away from a planet that was quickly disintegrating into war.

But Aria quickly shoved these conflicting emotions away, determining them to be nothing but a distraction. "Plenty of time to think on that later. First I got to find Sera."

_But how?_

The question nagged at her, whispering meanly to her every waking hour and bullying her out of what little sleep she got. It bothered Aria immensely that she still didn't have an answer. And now with everybody so busy just trying to counter Megatron's attacks, she didn't have the heart to ask for help.

Anxiously, Aria bit at her bottom lip as she stared at a new, blank page. She didn't know what else to write and kept fiddling with her pen so that it bounced between her fingers quick enough to form a black blur in front of the otherwise clean, white piece of paper.

Aria leaned her head back against the wall with a thump and sighed heavily. "There's nothing I can do right now. It's all hurry up and wait for something bad to happen." She muttered, feeling rather depressed, not so much at her boredom, but at the awful circumstances that surrounded her. If she wasn't sitting around waiting for something to happen, she was out there in newly made ruins, searching for survivors of the latest catastrophe, but mostly finding unlit eyes that showed the soul had long since flown its metallic nest.

A sudden clamor brought her head up again, except this time it wasn't Wheeljack or Ratchet moving furniture. Instead a familiar blue and silver femme had entered the room, and abruptly run into the stack of supplies that the two mechs had just set down, sending all sorts of things flying to the floor in a gigantic mess.

Aria peered out just in time to see the old medic chuck something at Chromia and say something Aria was pretty sure Ariel would refuse to translate if she had been there. Despite her downward mood, Aria found herself grinning at the white and red mech. He was so easy to irritate sometimes. It could be rather funny.

As Ratchet threw up his hands in frustration on the other side of the room and Wheeljack quickly but stealthily removed all other ammunitions from his friend's reach, Chromia spotted Aria poking her head out of the tiny alcove in the wall that some glitch-mouse or another had abandoned long ago.

"There you are," the warrior femme said in her hurriedly learned English when she was close enough, "ready to hit the road?"

Aria felt her grin shrink. "What's been demolished now?" she asked, unconsciously shrinking in on herself as if she was readying for a blow.

Chromia saw the automatic motion and felt a twinge of sorrow at her new little friend's reaction. She was so young, Chromia knew, barely more than a youngling even by her own race's standards.

_"War is no place for younglings. Maybe that's why the well of AllSparks has ceased its flow of new sparks."_ The former High Council guard thought bitterly. But then she felt a sharp edged grin take shape on her face. _"But just try and stop this one from coming and you'll end up with more dents in you than a road side barrier at a Kaon rage race."_ She thought, more than a trace of pride in her spark. Call it femme intuition, call it whatever you like; the fact of the matter was that Aria was good at finding things, especially lost things. Even Optimus couldn't argue against that, although it didn't stop him from trying most of the time.

Outwardly all Chromia said was, "The Decepticons have laid siege to Praxus, a state off to the west of here, but Prime received a message just before communication was lost for good. Apparently a handful of mechs broke through the Decepticon's barricade. Bad news is they didn't make a clean getaway and now they're trapped somewhere near the ruins of Primahex."

Aria's eyebrows rose in surprise. "And Optimus wants _me_ to go?" She asked, pointing at her chest as if there was some other lost human girl Chromia could have confused her with.

Chromia half shrugged. "Well, not exactly," she tried, but at Aria's slanted look of 'well spit it out' added, "alright so he practically threw a fit when I said I thought you should come, but I think this'll be right up your alley, organic femme."

"Meaning there's a good chance there's going to be lots of little holes for me to crawl through, yeah?" Aria asked raising one eyebrow at Chromia.

The femme shrugged an affirmative. "If they aren't laid up in some half demolished building than I bet they're stuck somewhere under a pile of rubble. And besides, the Decepticons already think that the party of escapees is extinguished or Seekers would be emptying every projectile they have over the place. It should be just as safe as walking down the street."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because that's so safe right now with Megatron bombing the city every other day. I swear it's like being in the middle of Germany's bombing of London except with aliens." Just saying it made her feel like she was in the middle of some cheesy, B-rated, alien flick from the eighties.

Chromia looked over Aria's strange words and smiled instead, looking more like a blue and silver wolf rather then a femme. "Well they haven't succeeded in wiping us out yet." She pointed out.

Even Aria had to admit the truth in that, even though she could feel the ground beneath her quake whenever one of Megatron's explosives hit the shield that still miraculously held over the city of Iacon.

"So, are you coming or what?" Chromia finally asked, propping hands on her hips as she looked down at her organic friend.

Aria breathed in deep, beating back her rising fear with her more powerful desire to help in any way she could. "Yeah," she said, her tone rising nervously, "wouldn't miss it for the world."

Chromia nodded and waited as Aria climbed down the rope Ratchet had hung so that the little organic could get down to the floor without constantly asking for his or some other busy mech's help.

They had just started heading toward the door when Wheeljack suddenly called out from the other side of the room.

"Oh Aria wait up a klik! I've got something for you." He shouted before rummaging through the strange looking metal objects that were always cluttering up his work table. "Now where did I-? Aha! Here it is!" He shouted triumphantly, holding up a cylindrical metal shape about as long as Aria's forearm. She thought it looked eerily similar to a light saber as Wheeljack came and proudly presented it to her.

"This is for you," he told her as he handed it over.

Uncertainly, Aria picked up the smooth cylinder. "Uh, thanks Wheeljack you, ah, shouldn't have?"

The inventor knelt down and smiled at her, not noticing her wariness of the whatever-it-was he had just placed in her hand. "Optimus told me that you could use some sort of weapon to defend yourself when you go out. So with a few suggestions from him and Jazz, I whipped this up for you. If you just press that button there you can test it to see how it works." He said pointing at said button.

Aria looked up at him. The inventor looked positively giddy, which did not make Aria feel any more comfortable with testing out her new weapon.

Chromia just took a safe step backwards.

Wondering if she shouldn't just do the same, Aria gingerly pressed the button, unable to disappoint Wheeljack's eager optics. She did however, close her eyes and pull back as far away as she could from the heavy metal cylinder.

With a sharp metal ping, a modestly sized, four pronged grappling hook popped out of the far end of the cylinder. It landed heavily on the floor with a clank, several feet of tough, durable, black rope connecting the hook to the cylinder in Aria's hand.

Aria blinked down at the hook, temporarily confused by the lack of explosion. Then her face split into a huge smile.

"It's a rope." Chromia pointed out flatly, less than amused.

Still smiling like mad, Aria looked up at the inventor. "It's perfect!" She shouted in excitement, truly pleased by Wheeljack's gift. Finally, something she knew how to actually _use_.

Wheeljack instantly turned bashful, looking down at the floor as he rubbed at the back of his head "Ah, well," he stammered, somewhat embarrassed by Aria's praise.

"Wouldn't it just have been easier to give her a gun?" Chromia asked as she knelt down and inspected the odd little device.

Wheeljack coughed as a different embarrassment took over. "It's hard to make one that small. I'm still working on one." He said defensively. "This was just simpler is all. And I, ah, couldn't get the darn thing to stop blowing up in my face." He admitted somewhat miserably.

Chromia gave an, "Ah," of understanding.

Aria ignored them as she pulled more rope from the cylinder, gripping it tight in her hand as she started to swing it in wide arcs first one side of her body and then the other in a large figure eight. She smiled at the satisfying whooshing sounds it made as it swung past her ears. It made her feel like Jackie Chan in that one western movie.

"If you push the button forward, it retracts again," Wheeljack told her when she had slowed the rope to a safer speed before letting the hooked end fall to the floor near her feet.

Aria tried it and, sure enough, the hook came flying backwards into the cylinder. Maybe with a little more force than strictly necessary, but hey, it still worked.

Beaming, Aria looked up at the inventor, liking the weight of the device in her hand. Not only did she have at least some slight way of defending herself, but now she didn't have to go snitching cables every time she wanted to relieve stress by hanging five feet in the air. "Thanks Wheeljack, I love it." She told him.

Wheeljack smiled back at her. "My pleasure, little Aria. And now at least you have some way of getting out of the direct line of fire should something go wrong."

Behind Aria, Chromia rolled her optics as she thought about how likely _that_ was. "Well then," she added, "if there's nothing else you want to give us, like a slingshot or some other simple machine, we should get going. Come on Aria," she ordered, heading toward the door.

"Good luck!" Wheeljack yelled after them. Then when he was sure they were gone, he thanked Primus that his gift hadn't blown up like its previous prototypes had.

_"And if it does later, well, please let it be in the face of a Decepticon,"_ he thought, inwardly praying for the femmes' safe return.

...

The ride to Primahex was rough and tumble thanks to the mix of obliterated roads and cross country trekking. Aria bounced more than sat in the relative safety of the femme Firestar's cab as they sped across the last stretch of empty plains. As another large pothole sent Aria's head crashing into the red femme's ceiling, she began to honestly think it might be better if she just walked back to Iacon, no matter how long it took.

"There it is," Chromia's voice came over what passed for a Cybertronian radio. The other femme, and consequently the only other being on this mission, was driving off to Firestar's right, throwing up metallic rocks as she tore across the empty plains. Her alt-form had no cab and only two wheels to match her slim blue frame. She was practically a motorcycle, Aria had thought when she first saw Chromia transform.

Another bump nearly sent Aria nose first into the windshield. Seeing the still smoking ruins up ahead gave her a sense of relief strong enough to make her sigh at the sight, no matter how horrifying.

They arrived at the ghost town after another handful of minutes. Both red and blue femmes slowed when they crossed the line of burnt out buildings, sensors wary of anything lurking in the smoky shadows that still hung in the streets, even though the attack on Primahex had ended almost an orn ago.

"Alright," Firestar's voice whispered softly through the cab, "where are they then? This place is giving me the creeps."

Aria silently agreed with her. Burned, smoke blackened buildings lined each side of the narrow street, smoke still pouring out of some of the gaping windows. War debris and smoldering wreckage littered the street, making it nearly impossible for Firestar's larger alt-form to navigate it safely. Chromia, having a better time avoiding the scattered pieces of destruction attempting to bar their way, took the lead.

The only good thing Aria could see in this smoldering ghost town was the merciful absence of lifeless, metal bodies like the ones Aria had already seen too much of. This was one of the few places that had evacuated to safer ground before Megatron visited them with molten flame and screaming missiles.

"This way," Chromia whispered in front of them, "Prime said that, as near as they could figure, the last known coordinates of their transmission came from right around he-"

Before she could finish, a large mech, covered in black armor, leapt out from behind the next corner, ion cannons on each of his massive arms blazing blue-white with energy. Aria gasped when she saw one was pointed at her and Firestar and the other at Chromia.

But the blue femme didn't let that stop her from quickly gunning her engine and then transforming, mid-skid, as she slid forward, letting her sudden increased momentum carry her forward across the debris littered pavement.

She stopped, fully transformed, at the mech's feet, her own fully charged cannons aimed up at his chest and head.

For a long minute, Aria didn't even breathe. It had all happened so fast, her mind was still trying to figure out how Chromia had gotten her feet back so suddenly.

"Come to finish the job Decepticon trash?" The mech growled, refusing to back down even in the face of Chromia's smaller, but still deadly, weapons.

Aria could practically feel Firestar bridle under her. "Do we look like garbage to you?" She demanded, clearly insulted.

"Can't think of anyone else with a reason to come all the way out here," the mech said, calmly looking between the still un-transformed Firestar and the aiming Chromia down at his feet. "Especially with all of the fun going on at the Praxus border not too far from here." He growled angrily.

Against what Aria thought to be common sense, Chromia smiled, however grimly, up at the mech, blatantly ignoring the blue blaze of death he had pointed at her chest armor.

"You must be from around here," she said, voice smooth and low, practically a purr, but with a dangerous edge hidden under its softness, "no one insults complete strangers better than a Praxian." She murmured.

The mech growled low in his vocal processor, but didn't speak as he reassessed the two in front of him.

"Autobots?" He eventually asked, his voice low and gravelly.

Chromia smirked up at him. "Autobots."

Gradually, both lowered their weapons.

Aria watched, jaw practically blowing in the breeze, as the still unnamed mech reached out a large hand and helped Chromia to her feet.

"What just happened?" She asked, totally confused. For the femmes, it had only been a tense moment of assessing just who, exactly, they were dealing with. But for the little human, it had been a too long period of time wondering when who was going to shoot who already. And then they just got lowered their guns and went on their merry way? Really?

Oblivious to her small friend's complete confusion, Chromia introduced herself. "The name's Chromia and I've been sent by Optimus Prime to help any of the survivors that made it through the Decepticon siege line. I take it you're one of them then Praxian?" She asked with a smirk, no doubt remembering his earlier garbage-Decepticon comparison.

The mech snorted gruffly. "Ironhide," he said by way of introduction, "there are seven of us left, but we had to scatter to keep away from Megatron's goons. And with the interference they've got blanketing the area I can't reach anyone else."

Chromia grinned and jerked her head back towards Firestar. "You let us worry about that. Optimus Prime even lent us a good luck charm. She'll find your friends in no time. Any 'cons around?"

For the first time since they had met him, Ironhide grinned, mercilessly. "Not anymore." He told her. "But I wouldn't put it past them to be watching the area. The last ones I saw were coming from-" he trailed off, a perplexed look coming onto his face as he spotted something over Chromia's shoulder, "what is that?"

Chromia turned around to see Aria climbing out of Firestar's alt-form so the red femme could transform.

She turned back towards Ironhide, smirking again. "Our good luck charm."

...

Aria scrabbled through the hole in the debris pile on her hands and knees, huffing and puffing as sweat poured into her eyes. Stopping for a moment, she wiped her brow with the back of her arm.

"Lord, it's so _hot_ down here," she groaned as small rocks dug into the palms of her hands. "I hope they're not down here just so I can go back," she muttered as she started forward again, crawling over and under the rocks that littered the space just big enough for her to make her way through. This was the third pile of stones she had crawled through this morning and _still_ they hadn't found armor nor antenna of Ironhide's missing companions.

"Small town, she says, easy to search, she says, complete bunk says I," Aria complained under her breath. Soon she was forced to halt as a pile of large stones blocked her way.

"Slag," she swore, an alien word she had heard more than once from some of the more street wise members of Optimus Prime's forces. Then, grunting in frustration and exertion, Aria started shoveling the looser debris out behind her, digging a hole to the other side.

She stopped when her fingers struck grooved metal. And not just metal like the iron laced ores she had been staring at for the last twenty-minutes or so, but warm, _living_, metal.

Eyes going wide, Aria dug more frantically around the metal foot, slowly but steadily making her way to the left of the frame. She was rewarded with some breathing space up near the bot's ankle joint.

"Hey!" She called as she crawled past the creature's leg, "Hey, you alive over there?"

No one answered.

Aria swore again, this time going with a more human expression. "Are you alive?" She asked, a pleading note entering her voice. Carefully, desperately hoping that the poor bot wasn't dead like so many others she had found, Aria crawled, hand over hand, up the robot's chest armor.

Finally she stopped, just under the behemoth's chin.

_"Hello?" _She yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth as if that would help.

A vent of dusty air blew out of the gaps in between the mech's sturdy, red and orange painted armor.

Around her sudden coughing, Aria smiled broadly. He was still alive. "Hold on there mister! I gotta go call in the Calvary. I'll be right back!"

Elated, Aria jumped back down to the gritty ground and headed back down the crawl space she had just come up through. "Chromia! Hey, Chromia I found one! Quick, quick! Come help him!" She started hollering even though she knew she was still too far away for the femme to hear her.

"Whoa!"

Aria skidded to a stop when she saw that, instead of solid ground, a large gaping hole was sitting in front of her. It was dark and hot air kept blowing out, like someone was breathing on her.

"Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere," the human girl muttered as she stared down into the dark abyss, "I would blame it on Albuquerque, but it's off in a different solar system." Aria swallowed hard, her heart pounding as she realized the incline was too steep for her to climb. If she had fallen, she would have been stuck down there for a very long while.

Dirt slid over the edge in dusty landslides as Aria back pedaled, looking for a place to turn around and get herself back on track out of this hot pile of scrap metal.

Glowing blue saucers suddenly blinked on in the dark pit, making Aria scream. Then another set appeared, and a third. As Aria stared into the hole she began to see the dimly lit outlines of other robots down there in the dark.

"I guess I found all of you then," Aria muttered as she counted two more offline bots in the darkness. That made five, six plus their friend buried in the dirt. "Yep, that's the lot of them," Aria murmured to herself.

Before she could go tell Chromia and Firestar of her find, a very different kind of glow appeared in the black near one of the sets of gleaming eyes. The high pitched whine of an ion cannon coming online made the fine hairs on the back of Aria's neck stand on end.

Carefully, she held up both her hands as the barely seen robot pointed it at her.

"Whoa there big fella," Aria said, as low and soothingly as she could, hoping tone would convince them of her peaceful intentions when words couldn't, "I'm here to help you. I'm with Optimus Prime, an Autobot, just like you." And then when that got no reaction she tried, "Ironhide told me you were down here. He sent me to come find you."

Uncertainty entered the glowing blue eyes and Aria watched as the mech stepped forward, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Yeah, you know that name don't you; Ironhide." Aria said again, this time pointing back the way she had come.

The mech glared at her, but reluctantly lowered his weapon.

Only pausing long enough to smile at the group of buried robots uneasily, Aria turned and scrabbled off down the dirt tunnel. Fortunately, this time she didn't get lost.

She was out of breath by the time she crawled out of the rubble pile's grip and collapsed over by Chromia's feet, gasping for air.

"Aria?" The blue femme asked, sounding slightly worried at her state. "Did you find anything?"

Aria nodded and pointed back the way she had come. "They're there, all of them. One's unconscious about halfway down and then the other five are down in some sort of pit and can't get out."

Chromia nodded and then gently grabbed the little organic femme and placed her on her own silver shoulder. "Show me," she ordered, letting go of her small friend to re-aim her weapon, keeping a wary optic on the surrounding buildings.

With various pointing, and not a small amount of guessing on Aria's part, the small human did her best to show her metallic friend where the offline robot lay. Then with a little bit of digging, a deep red shin came into view.

"That looks like Inferno," Ironhide said, a worry in his voice that not even Aria, who didn't understand his Cybertronian speech, could miss it.

"He's still alive," Aria told Chromia as she readjusted her grip on the femme's silver streaked shoulder guard, "I saw him move and he blew a bunch of dust on me when I asked him how he was."

"He's under a bunch of rock, how do you think he's doing?" Chromia pointed out as she scanned the ashen buildings off to her left before helping Firestar uncover the offline Inferno. Between the two of them it wasn't long before they had most of the brilliantly painted mech unburied.

"Hey Ironhide, lend us a hand," Chromia called over to the black mech. Casting a wary look at the empty buildings, he came and helped the two femmes pull his friend from the suffocating dirt and into the relative safety of a fallen building that now more resembled a lean-to than anything else.

Quickly, he brought his cannons up to bear again. "How did you learn to speak with that," he looked over at Aria, "whatever it is."

Chromia smirked at him. "My sister was of the language caste. She's given us enough of a jump start on Aria's language that now the organic femme can try and teach us herself. Of course, she's not really the teaching type so it's slow going, but it's going all the same. Now, Aria," she said addressing the little organic sitting on her shoulder, "where is this hole?"

Aria obligingly showed her.

"Hey!" Firestar yelled down at the rocks. "Anybody down there?"

There was a long cycle of silence, and then a muffled cry reached their waiting auditory receptors.

From a few yards to their left. Aria grinned bashfully. "I guess my sense of direction isn't all it's cracked up to be." She admitted, making Chromia smile.

But it was a short lived gesture. "The debris' thicker here, it's going to take awhile to dig them out." Chromia observed as she prodded at the dirt.

Firestar vented a frustrated sigh. "Ugh, wonderful. This is going to take forever."

"Then we had better get to it then," Chromia said trading one of her cannons for a long fingered hand.

They hadn't gotten more than a few feet through the debris when a rock just above Chromia's head exploded.

The femme ducked so fast that Aria ended up falling off her shoulder, landing hard enough on the rock littered ground to chase the air from her chest.

Quick as lightening, Ironhide fired off a shot at the attacker, missing as the other mech dove for nearby cover.

"Decepticons!" He shouted, his loud cry shaking Aria out of her oxygen starved stupor. "Hurry and get them out of that pit!"

But another shooter pinned down Firestar, making her stay behind the dirt hill or brave a shot to the head.

Aria stayed behind Chromia's silver leg. From there she could make out the shadowy frames of five mechs, all darkly painted and with weapons primed and blazing.

Another rock exploded nearby and Aria flinched, shielding her head with her hands, much good it would do. Chromia fired off a well timed shot, taking out the Decepticon that was keeping Firestar pinned behind the rubble, and then turned and shouted above the roar of cannon fire. "Help Firestar!"

Aria nodded, terrified out of her mind, then with a fearful look at the attackers, she turned and fled towards the red femme. Frantically, she started burrowing through the dirt. Eventually she noticed that Firestar was just sitting there, a look of startled terror on her usually fearless face.

"HURRY UP!" The little human yelled.

With a sharp nod, Firestar shook herself and started flinging dirt behind her, almost reburying Inferno in the process.

With the first mech down, the other Decepticons were left to deal with Chromia and Ironhide. Another mech tried to stop the red femme, but Chromia's ion blast whistling just past his auditory receptor changed his mind.

"I'll teach you monsters not to mess with me!" Chromia yelled charging her cannons and shooting with enough accuracy that one of the Decepticons went down before he even had a chance to process Chromia's words.

Stunned, but obviously thrilled with Chromia's gung ho, hand-them-their-afts-on-a-silvered-platter attitude, Ironhide vented a laugh. "Where have you been stationed all my life?" He asked himself, absentmindedly smiling crookedly as he took aim and continued firing on the ducking Decepticons.

But Chromia heard him over the crackle of his ion cannons and smiled, feeling a thrill herself, and not just from the rush of battle, although she did find the black mech's cannons more than impressive…

Despite the distraction they seemed to pose for each other, Chromia and Ironhide quickly dealt with the handful of Decepticon scouts. By the time they were done, Firestar had managed to make a large enough hole for the trapped bots to scramble out of.

"Well," Chromia said, sounding a bit breathless, "that was fun."

Her words coaxed a smile out of the older black mech.

Finally, the last bot, a femme surprisingly enough painted sea green, crawled out of the rubble and dazedly looked around. Eventually she saw the extinguished frames of their Decepticon attackers. "Aw Ironhide, you stole all the fun." She complained, only somewhat teasingly.

Ironhide gave the femme a slanted grin. "Don't worry Moonracer. There's plenty more where that came from. Now let's go find them."

They headed out, Firestar helping the now only slightly functioning Inferno and Ironhide leading the way with the others following.

Aria fell in step beside Chromia at the rear. "Told you good things happen when you're around," Chromia leaned down to murmur to her with a significant look at Ironhide where he was scoping out the plains ahead of them. Aria was grinning and shaking her head at her friend when the mech turned and waved them forward.

"Hurry while it's clear-" he told them in his gravelly undertone. Chromia motioned for Aria to wait as the rest of the group joined Ironhide, staying low and, hopefully, out of sight. When they were the only two left, Chromia rushed forward, Aria dashing at her feet. The blue and silver femme glanced around the next corner before giving the little human a literal green light. They were only a few feet away from the others now.

And then all Hell seemed to break lose around them.


	14. Chapter 14: Separated

XD OH MY WORD! I now have over 100 REVIEWS! That's just never happened before. I fear I might swoon! And start talking in ye old fashioned sentences. Oh, I mean sentences-eth. n_n

But really, you guys are the absolute _best_! EVER! All of you are just so amazing! *EXTREME HAPPY DANCING!*

And now I must make you hate me...u.u...

It's not my fault! These chapters have a mind of their own! I can't help where they decide to end! They, uh, mind control me! Yeah that's it! They talk to me...*gasp* no I will not tell them that you bad bad chapter endings! That's just mean. No, I don't care if it's Halloween or not that's no excuse! Sorry readers, this may take awhile, so just go on reading. *turns back to the evil chapter endings* What did you just call me? Oh I don't think so! Alright that's it, we're taking this outside!

^u.u^ *_Not again..._Mrs. Mittens thinks as she speed dials the psychiatrist*

...

I Lost A World!

14 – Separated – 14

"Ambush!" One of Ironhide's mechs roared above the sudden scream of Seeker missiles and ground troop cannon blasts. Already crumbling buildings exploded into blunt edged projectiles that pelted the Autobot party from all directions.

Aria shrieked as one of those blunt edged killers landed with a mighty thud where she had been standing not a second ago. Chromia and the others were firing back with the force only those who know they are fighting for something truly worthy can and didn't notice her diving for cover from the stones raining down around them.

Just like they didn't notice the minicon sneaking up on them from a deep chasm off to their right.

"On no you don't," Aria muttered as she shoved herself back to her feet. Not relying on her limited battle experience so much as her fear-turned-to-fury, Aria rushed forward behind her friends' feet, whipping out her rope and grapple as she did. She swung it as she ran, building up momentum until it was nothing but a silver edged blur whistling at her side. She ran past the line of broken buildings that hid the minicon from her friends' sight.

She slowed her approach when she reached the corner of the last building. Staying far enough away from the corroded surface behind her so that it didn't interfere with the arc of her grapple, the little human peered around the corner of the building.

The minicon, only a few feet away now, spotted her brown haired head as soon as it appeared.

"Oh shoot!" Aria shouted as a bolt of plasma hit the side of the building instead of her head. More bright blue bolts shot past her, either screaming past her shoulder or blasting into the building she was hiding behind.

"I didn't mean that literally!" She screamed above the high pitched noise.

Aria waited, pressing so close to the ragged wall behind her as if she wanted to dissolve into it. Unfortunately, the minicon's attack was taking its toll on the already brutalized structure. Peeking through her eyelashes, Aria saw that if something didn't change, the wall's hole filled fate would only be a prelude to hers.

Not daring to think unless her rational mind ended up getting someone killed, mainly herself, Aria waited for a lull in the attack before dashing away from the building into the open area before the minicon. Then before it had the chance to think, "What is wrong with this crazy, funny looking, femme?" Aria struck, her rope whipping out of her hand to rip the minicon's feet out from under it.

The bot went down heavily, limbs flailing as it tried to stop its fall. Before the dust had even settled, it lifted its square head and growled at Aria, dark red eyes glaring at her like lasers.

Not giving the minicon a chance to get back to its feet so it could demolish her, Aria pulled back her rope and with a mighty swing, hurled the grapple up, high above the minicon's angry form.

With a clank that was barely heard over the other sounds of battle, Aria's rope hooked onto the exposed steel girder she had spotted earlier.

The minicon was getting to its feet again, growling something vile at her, Aria had no doubt.

Only giving the surly mech a quick glance, Aria hooked Wheeljack's invention on her belt so that she could haul on the rope with both hands.

The hunk of wreckage the girder extended from was only the first of the debris that came falling down on the advancing minicon. Heart thundering in her ears, Aria watched as what must have been an entire story of metal and rubble followed it to land on the bot that was barely bigger than she was.

She thought she heard the minicon shriek once before the stones crushed his small frame. Hardly hearing the other sounds of weapons fire and battle cries behind her, Aria stared in horror at the rocky grave she had just created.

She had never killed anything before. Not intentionally. Not like that.

Frightened of herself now more than the battle surrounding her, Aria backed away, forgetting even to retract her rope and grapple.

It was a sore mistake.

A slight motion underneath the fallen grit caught her eye. Horrified, the organic girl watched as a hand, and then a head, appeared out of the rubble. The minicon was barely alive, but probably not for that much longer.

The little Decepticon knew this just as much as Aria did, but that didn't stop him from giving one last smirk as he shoved one large rock over the edge of the fiery chasm he had crawled up through.

He watched as the strange femme's optics went wide as she realized that her black whip was still attached to the rock that was now tumbling down towards the lava flows that surrounded the heart of Cybertron. The only pity the little mech felt was that he wouldn't get to watch as the rock pulled the little femme into the river of superheated rock.

Aria didn't notice the moment the minicon's spark extinguished. She was too busy frantically yanking at her makeshift weapon, but she couldn't get the clip off of her belt.

"Get off! **Get off! **_**Get off!**_" She muttered madly. The slack was almost gone.

Then with a vicious yank, Aria was pulled over the edge of the chasm, screaming in panic all the while.

But her little cry was lost in the noise of battle.

...

Things weren't going so well for the other Autobots either. They weren't going badly yet, but things still weren't exactly good.

The problem was that they were so close to Praxus that it was easy for the Decepticons to send in reinforcements while Iacon, along with the Autobot headquarters, was several joors away.

_"No help for it then,"_ Chromia thought grimly as she fired off another shot at one particularly stubborn Decepticon. She had already put several massive dents in him that she knew had to hurt, but the slag head just wouldn't stay down.

"Autobots!" She yelled over the roar of the fight. "Fallback!"

She did not need to repeat herself.

Most of the Praxian survivors turned and made a break for the city limits and the empty plains that lay beyond while Ironhide, Chromia, Firestar, and the by now fully awakened Inferno laid down heavy cover fire. Fortunately, the green femme Moonracer had already taken down the two Seekers that had first opened fire on them, showing an eagle eye Chromia hadn't first expected from the slightly fumbling femme.

"Firestar, get him out of here!" Chromia yelled, jerking her chin at the red mech they had first pulled from the rubble.

The other femme looked a bit frazzled. "I'm trying! He just won't leave!" She shouted back.

Over the din of his duel cannons, Chromia heard Ironhide laugh sharply. "You were offline not two kliks ago Inferno. This is no time to be playing hero! Now git! We'll be right behind you!" He hollered at the other mech before throwing a grin at Chromia.

Chromia felt her spark burn hot at that grin. Showing off a little, she fire off two successive shots, hitting the stubborn Decepticon in the chest, just above his spark. The big idiot finally went down.

"Bulls eye." She murmured.

An unexpected silence fell onto the battlefield as the only remaining Decepticon turned and fled, in a much more fearful manner than Chromia and Ironhide's friends had a klik ago.

"Nice shot," Ironhide complimented her, somewhat gruffly.

Chromia grinned mischievously at him. "Glad you approve," she answered him in a smooth, low voice.

Before they could say anything else, the ominous tread of heavy artillery appeared in the near distance, and coming closer.

"Uh-oh," Ironhide said, not sounding at all sorry, "looks like we've ticked them off."

Chromia's answered grin was positively wicked. "I guess that means the party's over."

A shot exploding above their heads confirmed that it was.

With a gleeful shout, Chromia turned and ran, changing into her sleek alt-form on the fly, giving their pursuers a smaller target. She made sure Ironhide was still with her before she gunned her engine and flew off across the dusty plains, kicking up dirt and dust in her wake.

There was a slight chase, but nothing newsworthy, and soon the Decepticon's fell back, choosing rather to regroup at Primahex rather than go chasing after a couple of annoying Autobots.

It wasn't long before Chromia rounded a cliff to find Firestar and the rest of the escaped Praxians waiting near the base.

"About time you got here," the one Ironhide had called Inferno griped when Chromia and the black mech came to a halt near the group. "If you'd been any longer we would've left you out here."

"Yeah right," Ironhide said, not bothering to change out of his alt-form.

Chromia ignored the two mechs and glanced over the small group before her. "How're things looking Firestar?" She asked. Despite the calm and relief that had pervaded the rescued bots, Chromia couldn't shake the feeling something had gone wrong. It didn't look like anyone was severely wounded so that was good, but still…

"All present and accounted for," Firestar reported, the joy of success heavy in her voice.

It finally struck Chromia what, or rather who, was missing. Grimly, Chromia answered her friend. "No, not everybody."

...

"You _lost_ her?"

Optimus Prime's voice echoed throughout the empty Hall of Records, chasing loose objects off of shelves and scattering dust from the ceiling.

Chromia refused to flinch. She was already kicking herself for not noticing Aria's disappearance earlier. Compared to what she had said to herself on the way back, nothing Optimus Prime had to say could make her feel any worse.

And yet, somehow her spark kept sinking.

"Yes," Chromia admitted sadly, hanging her head, "She got away from me during the fight. I don't know what happened to her."

Ironhide watched as the new Prime started pacing across the small room. He didn't understand. So what if Chromia had lost Prime's little organic pet? It had done its duty and ran during the fight, probably terrified out of its little mind. Why couldn't they just breed another one or whatever?

Prime continued to pace, thinking or worrying more Ironhide was unsure. Soon he stopped to face the green and white mech standing near the corner. "What about the device you gave her Wheeljack," Optimus asked anxiously.

The inventor looked more than a little confused. "What about it?"

"Well didn't you put some kind of tracking device in it?" Optimus asked a little too loudly.

"I'm still working on it!" Wheeljack answered, instantly defensive. "This stuff takes time Optimus."

One of the small mech's laughed without humor. Ironhide thought his name was Jazz. What he did remember was that he was one of the new Prime's lieutenants.

"Yeah, especially when you keep needing to build new prototypes when the last one blows itself into tiny little pieces." Jazz prodded.

Ironhide nodded slightly with realization. _"So he's _that_ Wheeljack,"_ he thought.

With a frustrated noise, Prime started pacing again. He would wear a rut in the floor before much longer, Ironhide thought with a slight roll of his optics. Really, all this worry over a little pet was admirable – just think of how he would act when one of his actual forces was harmed, much less extinguished – but this was bordering on ridiculous.

Finally the rose red femme, Chromia's sister Ariel, the mech remembered, stepped in front of Optimus Prime, forcing him to stop.

"Optimus control yourself," Ariel murmured firmly, but gently, "I'm sure she is alright. You know how smart Aria is, I'm sure she's on her way back as we speak." She said, gently laying a hand on Optimus Prime's arm by way of comfort.

Ironhide was getting tired of this nonsense. "Yes, yes, may robo-lassie find her way home soon, but right now we have a few more important things to discuss. Like how Megatron and his slaggin' minions are trashing Praxus."

He knew he had said something wrong when every head in the room snapped up to stare at him, even Chromia's.

"What?" Ironhide demanded, feeling irritated that this new Prime couldn't bring himself to focus on the fact that his enemy was about to rampage across an entire _nation_.

"Ariah is not a pet!" Optimus said, sounding slightly offended. "She is a sentient being. Why does everyone keep thinking that?" He grumbled that last bit more to himself then anyone else.

That threw Ironhide's processors for a loop. "What?" He asked again.

"She's an alien." Chromia told him straightforwardly, her optics clearly saying, _"I know, I can't believe it either."_

Ironhide waited for the other anvil to fall. "Are you serious?" He asked incredulously.

"Perfectly," Ariel said calmly, "she came through the space bridge by accident and has not yet had the chance to leave." She explained, skipping over most of the details.

"She is also a very good friend of mine, of all us," the new Prime spoke up, his voice strong as he gestured at all of the room's inhabitants, "and I would appreciate it if you refrained from speaking of her as if she was nothing but an animal."

Ironhide suddenly thought it was better if he didn't say anything for a little while until he knew exactly what was going on. As an experienced warrior he knew that sometimes it was a good idea to back down until the situation became crystal clear. Besides, he was starting to feel the smallest bit sorry for calling the alien that had found his friends a robo-lassie.

A long thoughtful moment passed before Prime spoke again. "However you are both right. There are other things we need to focus on at the moment. And," he hesitated, "and if Ariah is still functioning properly then I'm sure that she will make her way back as quickly as she can. But for now, how shall we help Praxus?"

A quiet relief crept up on Ironhide, loosening several tight bolts in his frame. _"Alien lover or not, at least we finally have a Prime that does _something_." _He thought before telling the assembled Autobots just exactly how dire Praxus' situation was.


	15. Chapter 15: The Well of AllSparks

Aha_ha_! I have escaped the evil cliffhanger endings and have come to redeem myself! An it's a day early! Yippee! And wow, all those reviews! Maybe I'll have to throw Aria over cliffs filled with lava more often... n.n okay maybe not. Anyway, I LOVED all of your reviews! They made me so giddy! Almost as giddy as my early birthday present (hint, it was an Iphone to replace my broken phone! ;D *girly shriek!* Well I got to go take my sister to get her blood drawn. Happy Halloween everybody!

=^,,^= Mrs. Mittens is dressing up as Puss in Boots. I thought she would make a cute alien (^...^) but oh well. She saw the movie this weekend and thought it was cutely funny. She felt she could really identify with Puss because, ya know, he's a cat...

...

I Lost A World!

15 – The Well of AllSparks – 15

It was the abominable heat that finally woke Aria. That and the dull ache that ran along her back and across her shoulders. She felt like she had slept in every wrong position possible for a human being. And then when she finally did try to move, every muscle from her neck to her thighs burned as if she had abused them on a treadmill for hours the day before.

Between the burning in her body and the heat outside of it, Aria thought for a second that she was actually on fire.

A rush of panic followed that thought, making Aria jump, only when she came back down she realized there was no ground. She was falling and molten lava was beneath her and she was going to be burned alive!

A harsh yank around her middle brought Aria's panic up short, along with the rest of her body. For a long moment she hung there, wide eyed and frozen, neck hanging practically upside down so she could stare at the bright red flow of lava that oozed hundreds of feet below her.

_"What-? Where-?"_ Her mind could barely think.

Eventually, Aria regained enough of her senses to look up, no matter how much her neck protested at the movement. Stretching far above her was a black rope, her black rope she realized. At the far end, she could just barely make out the metallic glint of her hook still wrapped around the broken girder. Mercifully the chunk of building the girder stuck out of had gotten lodged between two large slabs of metal earth that extended away from the otherwise smooth cliff face.

Aria let her head flop back as relief turned her tense muscles into water. Despite her overwhelming fear, or maybe because of it, she felt herself smile. Breathlessly she laughed at herself, hanging hundreds of feet above certain death with hundreds more above separating her from safety. All the while hanging from an impossibly thin rope that looked as if the heat waves alone could snap it in two at any moment, sending her plummeting past the silvery red cliff face to land in boiling, red metal.

Aria gave a little puff of panicked laughter.

"This is great," she muttered to herself, voice pitched too high for normal, "just absolutely great. They should have a tourist brochure for this it's so great. _'Welcome to Cybertron!'_ it'll say, _'Home of transforming robots, beautiful architecture, and rivers of lava! Just be careful you don't fall in and make sure to obey the no swimming signs at all times!'_ Sounds like a summer hotspot to me. I'll have to print them up as soon as I get back." Aria started talking to herself.

The thought reminded her of something and she took a nice long look up the rope that kept her reoccurring nightmare of being burned to death from coming true.

"But first I have to get out of here." She told herself.

It took some finagling, but eventually Aria got herself balanced into a more or less not-flopped-over-backwards-like-a-dead-fish-roasting-over-an-open-flame position. The black rope dug into her hands, leaving red imprints of the metal fabric on her skin, but she didn't dare let go, especially when she felt her belt start to loosen dangerously.

"Okay then, here we go, hup two, hup two," she started chanting as she pulled herself up the rope, not daring to look down for even a second lest she lose it completely and start shaking so much that she just slid out of her belt altogether and fall to her doom.

Her arms were aching by the time she was halfway up. "Of all the stupid, vindictive, slag headed, mean things to do," Aria grumbled and swore at the minicon that had done this to her and she didn't stop until she reached the sturdy outcropping of rock the girder had gotten stuck on.

"…malicious, cruel," she ground out between clenched teeth as she used her aching arms to heave her dead weight onto safety, "fraggin' little midget!"

Completely out of breath, and swear words, Aria collapsed against the sturdy ground and used the last of her strength to back up as far as she could away from the edge of the protruding rock. Despite the heat, she shivered and quaked, fear overflowing her usual senses. Tears left her eyes, but evaporated before they could even make it an inch down her dirty face.

"Oh God," she breathed, her chest heaving, "Oh God I made it." Then, of all things, she started to laugh. She laughed so hard she couldn't breathe. It felt like hours before she could grab a hold of her senses, but from the burning state of her lungs must have been only minutes.

It was ages later even after she stopped laughing before she could really get a hold of herself. She sat there, unconsciously quaking, as she tried to think of what she could do now to get out of this burning chasm.

Nearby, the shifty sound of gravel trickling over the edge of her sanctuary sent Aria's heart thundering again when she saw that it was coming out from under the rock she was still hooked up to. Frantically, Aria unclipped Wheeljack's invention from her frayed belt as the trickle became a stream pouring over the edge like a dirt waterfall. Thankfully the clip opened right away and she didn't have to go through a repeat of her trip down here as the rock finally lost its purchase and tumble down into the lava flow below.

Aria did not watch it go. She stayed well clear of the black rope as it zipped off the ledge, following the debris and hook embedded in its side.

It was only after the molten rock had settled again that Aria realized it probably would have been better if she had untangled the hook end and kept Wheeljack's invention so she could use it to get herself out of here.

"Not that there's anything to latch onto with this cliff face as smooth as it is," Aria murmured to herself as she stared up at the opening of the chasm far above her head and the smoky blue sky beyond.

"Oh well," she finally said with a still somewhat shaky sigh as she carefully climbed to her feet. "I guess that leaves only one way to go," she said as she turned to face the small shelf she had seen that extended from the ledge she had climbed onto. It was barely wide enough for her to walk down, but it posed a much better option than staying here where no one knew she was. Given the Decepticon ambush, Aria would have been very surprised if Chromia and the others had stuck around long enough to search for her.

"Plus it looks like it leads away from this river of death," Aria said as she began walking along the shelf, one hand on the cliff next to her to try and help her balance.

She was right. Soon the shelf became a tunnel, thankfully one she could stand up in. It had widened out too so she could walk quite comfortably. The lava had long since disappeared, however it was still swelteringly hot down here in the red hued dark.

"Whew," Aria breathed as she wiped the sweat from her dripping brow a few hours later, "I hope this place lets out soon otherwise I'm going to sweat to death." She muttered, steadily making her way forward nonetheless. "Which technically would be drowning I guess," she looked at the perspiration running down her hand. "Eww."

She made a disgusted face as she shook the sweat off of her hand and peered off into the growing gloom of the tunnel before her. She felt her heart sink as she realized that the red-hued light was fading up ahead, probably because the metal earth around her was growing cooler the farther she got away from the lava river. So far the walls surrounding her had been so hot that they had glowed slightly even when the daylight had disappeared far behind Aria's back.

"Great," Aria muttered to herself as she stared into the coming dimness, "just great. Yet another thing to add to the brochure." Then realizing that if she refused to go into the darkening tunnel her only choice was to go back to the chasm, she sighed. "Well, at least I know it's going to cool down some." She said as she started her long trek into the beneath surface gloom.

It was some time again before she saw any kind of light.

"Ow!" Aria yelled for what felt like the thousandth time in ten minutes. She had been groping around in the dark for who-knew-how-long and it had more than taken its toll on her toes. If they weren't all bent and bruised by the time she got back to the surface again she was going to be very surprised.

"Dang it all," she muttered darkly as she rubbed her latest injury, keeping one hand on the cave wall so she could at least have _some_ kind of idea where she was. "I don't know which is worse anymore, the heat or not being able to see-OW!"

Her foot met another sharp angle in the heavy dark and Aria went down, sprawling across the damp floor of the tunnel.

She lay there for a long minute, groaning miserably into the ground, her nose shoved up against something squishy and wet and gross that was growing all over the inside of the tunnel, like metallic moss except it wasn't at all soft.

"Stupid, freakin' caves," Aria grumbled, feeling caught somewhere between wanting to cry and wanting to scream until someone just pulled back the ceiling and hauled her out of here.

Fortunately, her sanity returned just in time to banish both opponents. Instead of weeping or ranting, or both, Aria gathered herself together and carefully stretched out a hand to find the wall again. It took her a minute to re-orientate herself, but eventually she found the cave side's warm, slick surface and pulled herself up to her aching feet again.

"When I get out of here I swear I am never leaving Iacon _ever again._" She muttered to herself as she stretched out a hesitant hand and started on her way again. "I'll just sit in the Hall of Records and watch things happen through the safety of a video screen. I'm sure Optimus won't mind since he seems to think that bad things are going to happen every time I leave anyway."

Aria stopped, realizing just where, exactly, she was again.

"Well," she said as she started fumbling forward again, "at least he won't be hard to live with after this. Not like if Jazz had been the one telling me I shouldn't get myself into trouble anyways. Now _that_ would have been obnoxious. Eww, it looks like my toe is broken! And what happened to my shoes?"

Aria stared down at her left pinky toe, grimacing at the slanted angle it sat at.

Then she realized she could _see _it.

With a gasp, Aria looked up. It was still pitch black around her, but off in the distance she could just barely make out a dim, gray tinge to the path.

Aria hurried forward, ignoring the renewed pain in her toes as they scraped against the metallic floor. She could hardly believe it. She almost thought she was seeing things after being in the dark too long, but no, she could see the shadowy outlines of her hands as her fingers brushed along the cavern wall. Briefly she wondered why she hadn't noticed it before, but then she thought that it must have happened so gradually that she just hadn't noticed.

Aria slowed as she got closer to the source of the light. She could see all around her now. The tunnel walls were cold and shiny gray, reminding Aria of the corridors of space ships from movies. Only instead of being all smooth and reflective, the walls looked like they had been eaten away by water or maybe-

"Lava," Aria whispered as she trailed her fingers in wonderment along the ebbs and flows of hardened metal that made up the tunnel. "A stream of lava must have burrowed through here and carved this tunnel out, but that river back there in the chasm wasn't nearly as high as this. This must be a whole lot older than the river I guess."

Slowly, Aria continued to make her way forward as she looked around her, wondering at just how old this place might be. If the metallic moss she had noticed earlier was anything like moss back on Earth, then maybe it was a good tell that this tunnel had been around for far longer than a whole forest of redwoods added together.

There was a slight bend in the tunnel and when Aria had rounded it, she finally came face to face with the source of the glow.

Only, it didn't actually have a face. The light was coming from nothing but a bright, simple sphere.

Curious, Aria bent down, peering intently at the ball of light. It was only slightly smaller then her head and as far as she could tell, had no battery or flame at its heart. For that matter it didn't even appear to have an actual surface. It was as if someone had gathered up the glow of a lamp and had spun it so that it existed on its very own, without any visible beginning and, so far, no end.

Carefully, Aria reached out a hand to the little sphere, as if she was warming it by a fire.

"It's so warm," she whispered in awe, "and…pure."

It was the only word she could think of to describe the little sphere, but that's exactly what it was she realized; a sweet, pure, little ball of light.

Hesitantly, completely unsure if she should do this, Aria reached out both her hands and touched it.

She waited a moment, but when she wasn't shocked or burned or otherwise zapped for touching something she wasn't supposed to, Aria picked up the little ball. It was warm, but not hot, and intensely bright, and somehow it weighed barely anything at all. Aria still handled it carefully as if she was afraid it would shatter at a wrong glance. But the ball seemed content to sit in her hands.

Aria had the vague impression that it was watching her just as curiously as she was looking at it.

She quickly brushed off the feeling as being left alone in the dark for too long. But that still didn't stop her from talking to it. "What are you?" She breathed, but she wasn't so sure if she was talking to herself or the ball.

The sphere of light glowed brighter for an instant, sending little buzzing vibrations up Aria's arms, making her giggle, then receded back to its former warm shine.

"Funny little critter aren't you?" Aria asked with another laugh. Then she looked the ball over again. "Well, I guess I've already made friends with robots. Why not a little glowing ball?"

The ball didn't rattle or glow brighter again, just sat quiescent in her hands.

When she was sure it wasn't about to do anything else, Aria looked around her at the dark that still sat outside of the little ball's sphere of light. "And I guess, since I've got nothing else, that I'll just take you along with me so I can actually see where I'm going. And who knows?" She said as she started walking again. "Maybe Optimus or somebody can tell me what you are."

She had barely taken five steps when the sphere's light fell across a deeper darkness in the side of the tunnel.

"Hello," she said as she stopped to stare, "what have we here? An exit maybe?" She turned to look at her new bright friend. "Well c'mon then Glowball, let's go check it out."

The sphere dimmed, showing just how much it liked its new nickname.

"Alright, alright, but I've got to call you something until I find out what you are and that's about the best I could come up with. Besides, I've lost too much of my sanity here not to talk with possibly inanimate objects." She told it as she turned down the new passageway.

It didn't remain a passageway for long. Maybe ten feet in, the tunnel abruptly widened out into a cavern so large that not even Glowball's light could reach the top.

"Wow," Aria breathed, her awed whisper bouncing around in echoes around the cavern, "now there's something you don't see everyday."

Slowly, Aria made her way farther into the metal room, turning in wondering circles to try and take in every angle of this natural wonder. As slow as she was turning it took her awhile to notice that the little sphere in her hands was not the only light in the cavern.

"There're more of you!" She said, her voice bouncing around the metal walls, turning it into a shout.

There _were_ more, several more, maybe half a dozen glowing spheres embedded in the rough metal walls higher up, as if they had been deposited there into the natural hollows scoured out by the flows of lava that had formed the room. Only it was odd. The longer Aria looked, the more it appeared that the lower part of the wall was different than the higher portions. Down here the metal walls were rougher, with more crags and hollows. While up in the more shadowy recesses of the underground cave, the metal was smoother, as if it had weathered more.

"It's almost like there was a lava flow down here recently." Aria mused as she felt the rough surface with one hand, holding Glowball firmly in the other. Looking over at it she smiled. "Maybe that's where you came from yeah? Maybe you're more of a lava ball than a glow ball." She teased.

She would have called herself mad for talking to it if the little ball hadn't buzzed almost sleepily at her.

Aria shook her head and turned her attention back to the other spheres still in the wall. She noticed that there seemed to be differences between them too. The sphere just above her for instance almost appeared to have a pink tinge to it, and a few feet beyond that one there were two stuck together. The longer she looked the more distinctive each one became even in the dim, shadowy light of the cavern.

Aria looked back down, a sense of awe she didn't understand filling her up. Compared to the others still in the wall, her little Glowball, the smallest of them all, looked practically yellow.

"Blindingly yellow," Aria amended as she blinked away sunspots. "Whatever it is you are, the lot of you sure are bright."

All seven of the spheres glowed brighter for a moment, pleased with the observation.

Aria blinked at them and wondered what she should say to that. But then she realized that she was talking with a bunch of lights and decided to concentrate more on finding a way out of here than thinking on what to say.

But a small clank of metal falling onto metal coming from deeper in the cavern distracted her.

Aria froze, mind suddenly going blank before thundering into overdrive. _"Please just be the imaginations of my mind slipping over the edge. Please let me be just going mad!"_ Aria thought, her mind nearly drowned out by the sudden thundering of her heart in her throat and its echo in her ears.

_"It's nothing,"_ Aria told herself, _"It's nothing, just keep walking. Just turn around and leave."_

But something shuffled in the dark again behind her.

Aria froze, Glowball in hand, as realization dawned on her along with a growing sense of terror.

_"We're not the only things in here."_

Slowly, carefully, Aria turned around, eyes wide as she clutched the little yellow light to her chest protectively, but she didn't see anything lurking in the dark.

"I-I can hear you in there," Aria called out, knowing hiding to be useless as long as she had Glowball. "Come out where I can see you!"

For a moment nothing moved beyond her small sphere of light, but then a dim shape moved in the dark.

Aria waited, breath frozen in her chest as she held tight to the glowing light, although she wasn't sure if that was for her sake or its at the moment.

It was a robot, (_"Of course," _she thought, not so surprised by that after everything that had happened) but the strange part was that it was only taller than Aria herself by half. At first she thought it was another minicon, but then she noticed the wide eyed way the being was staring at her, and how its parts didn't fit together as smoothly as the other bots she knew, and she realized this one was much, much younger than Optimus and the others she had seen.

Slowly, Aria let go of most of her tension, especially her death grip on the little Glowball, who flickered feebly in appreciation.

"H-hello," she said, still gaining control over her voice. "Are, uh, are you alright there?"

The robot child gave a small electronic shriek and flinched away.

"Oh no, no! It's alright, see? I'm not going to hurt you," Aria said holding up her hands to show she wasn't armed, but Glowball came up instead.

"Eh," Aria said, not sure what to say now, especially since she didn't even know what it was she held.

But the child seemed more in awe than afraid now. He looked between Aria and the glowing sphere she held up. And then, more hesitantly than a cat coming to a large body of water, the child inched forward, sliding his large metal feet towards her little by little.

Aria managed to stay quiet as the young robot approached her. He seemed so afraid of her already and she didn't want to frighten him further by saying anything he might mistake for aggressive or dangerous.

But quiet as she was, the little bot still stopped a good four feet away from her.

_"Alrighty then," _Aria thought to herself as she watched the boy, _"now what?"_

The young bot's glowing blue eyes roved the cavern again, reassuring himself that there was no one else here Aria assumed, although how he saw through the thick darkness was beyond her. Now that he was close enough, Aria could just make out the freshly made cuts that ran along his outer limbs, and one that ran across his torso, as well as the large, painful looking dent on his left shoulder. As far as she could tell, he didn't have any weapons on him, giving Aria the strong impression that he was a civilian, not a fighter in this war.

_"Poor kid,"_ Aria thought sorrowfully, _"he looks terrified out of his mind."_

As Aria watched the boy and he watched everything else, along with her, an idea started to form in her head. Slowly, so as not to frighten him, Aria knelt down to the ground, adjusting her grip on Glowball so that she could hold him one handed. Then she reached out a finger and drew four angular lines in the loose dirt.

Confused, the little bot watched her from his reasonable distance.

_"Add some eyes and a stern little mouth and…done!"_ Aria though as she finished the last few strokes. Satisfied, she smiled up at the bot and pointed down at her drawing, moving the little light sphere again so that its light shown directly on to the Autobot symbol she had drawn.

The little bot recognized it in a flash. He pointed at it, beginning to talk very quickly.

Aria nodded at him. She waited until he was looking at her again before pointing up at the ceiling far above them. "I need to get out of here. I need to get back to Optimus Prime and the others." She told him, pointing down at the symbol again.

The little boy's head bobbed up and down quickly, a stream of unintelligible words pouring out of his mouth along with numerous clicks and whirs that Aria had never heard the older bots use.

Not sure what else to do, Aria nodded and smiled at the little bot.

_"Just smile and nod Aria, smile and nod."_

Her patience paid off. Soon the bot reached out and grabbed her wrist, his grip firm but not strong enough to hurt her, then he dragged her forward towards the far end of the cavern.

"Where are we going?" Aria tried asking.

But the little bot just kept talking as he pulled her forward.

Aria had pretty much resigned herself to not knowing what was going on when the boy suddenly stopped and, at the girl's confused look, pointed again at the far wall, which actually wasn't all that far away now. If she squinted, Aria could just make out the deep outline of another tunnel leading to who only knew where.

"That way?" Aria asked the boy pointing into the dark. "We should go that way?"

Instead of nodding or shrugging, the little mech said something, pointing at the tunnel and then pointing up.

"Alright then, that's good enough for me." She told him before turning around. "But first we should get those other glowing balls to take with us-"

The boy let out a loud squeak and reached out to stop her as soon as he saw where she was headed. Jabbering faster than before, he went and stood in front of Aria, blocking her path to the other glowing spheres.

"What?" Aria demanded.

The boy wouldn't move though, just stood there, waving his arms in clear, 'do not pass', motions.

"Alright, alright," Aria said holding up her free hand and taking a step back, "I won't touch them. Got it."

The child bot stopped swinging his arms and watched her warily, as if wondering if she was trying to trick him or not. He said something that sounded to Aria like a question.

"Nope, I really mean it. I will not touch except for the one I already have." She told him, showing him the shining ball she held. Its light fell across the little bot, showing his injuries and frame in stark relief.

Aria flinched with sympathy. Slowly, waiting to see how the boy would react to her, she reached out her free hand and gingerly touched one of the scratches that ran across his metal form. When she pulled her hand away it was slightly damp, although with what Aria didn't know.

"Poor kid," she murmured again looking up at the child bot's sad face. He wouldn't look at her now, and Aria saw that his blue gaze was very far away now as well as frightened.

After a long minute of standing in the dark, Aria reached out and laid her hand on the boy's cheek, gently turning his head to face her. When she was sure he saw her, and not the horrors she knew were replaying in his head, she smiled at him and nodded towards the tunnel he had shown her.

"Why don't you come with me yeah? I know someone who can fix you right up, good as new." She offered, thinking Ratchet should have an easy time with the little bot's wounds, although she whished she knew of someone that could help with his more unseen trauma.

As if in answer, the boy said something, some of his previous energy returning, and then transformed into a four wheeled vehicle with a flat top and a colored stripe running down his side.

"A blue stripe huh?" Aria said as she went for a closer look. "Y'know, I think there's a saying back home about people talking up blue stripes, or is it streaks? Yeah that sounds right. With as much as you like to talk I think Bluestreak suits you perfectly. Do you mind if I call you that?" She asked politely.

Bluestreak gave a pleased sounding squeak, enjoying the way the little soft body's words rolled off her tongue like hot metal.

Aria smiled at him through the dark. "Cool, now let's get out of here." She said, going to climb onto Bluestreak's roof since there was no cab for her to ride in, Glowball safely in hand. But a nagging sense of guilt made her turn around.

She turned to face the other spheres again where they still glowed sleepily in the wall on the other edge of the cavern. "I'll make sure to tell Optimus Prime y'all are all down here." She promised them.

The lights didn't change this time, as if they were tired out by the previous excitement, but still Aria got the feeling that they were happy with her promise.

"I've got to be going mad," Aria told herself as she turned back to her ride. "Just got to be losing my mind. There's just no other explanation for it."

Bluestreak answered her in his own electronic way as he started rolling down the path that led to the surface and, hopefully, to the rest of Aria's friends.


	16. Chapter 16: Loss of Gleaming, Gain of

Wow! Ironically, Halloween seems to bring out the best in you all (we're now up to over 10,700 hits! Squeak!). And such a plethora of amazing reviews! Especially NightMaskedFemme and E-Raptor (who in my own personal opinion should turn on his pm services so I can thank you most graciously for your reviews and so I can tell you that I _do_ have something special planned for everyone's (including my own) favorite future camero...oh, wait, I think I just did...). But to the both of you: You have no idea how much that means to me to hear! You're both just so kind to say that! I can only hope that you're right. *Sigh* the bestseller list and fanfiction . net fame huh? Cool...

And thanks to those like Autobot Princess Arcee for using words like 'adorable' to describe the last chapter. ^-^ I'm glad Bluestreak got such a good reception. I thought he turned out cute too. n.n Hopefully you will all like this chapter too. I will warn you in advance that I went a little girly on your cyber-selves, but well, it's got a stellar ending. ;3 ( Mrs. Mittens is having balance issues today). Oh! And before I forget, the title references the novelization of the 3rd TF movie. In the opening flashback, Optimus is talking about how they've lost their gleaming. I really liked that part and thought it was a very interesting way to describe it.

You know, looking back I can't help but think that this chapter sprung up out of my automatic desire to keep typing 'Orion Pax' and not 'Optimus Prime'. I guess that's muscle memory for you...

Anyway, hope you enjoy! See you next week and feel free to leave as many reviews as you want! ^n.n^

...

I Lost A World!

16 – Loss of Gleaming, Gain of Glowing – 16

The streets of Iacon were eerily empty the next lunar cycle as Ariel walked past the all but abandoned buildings of the once shining city. Rubble from the last Decepticon barrage was scattered across the street, forcing her to wind her way down the deserted road rather then walk in a straight line. Gaping holes filled the nearby buildings and the wind was whistling mournfully through them, creating a sorrowful music that pulled at Ariel's spark. Here, it was easy to see that the war hadn't just taken lives; it had devastated them, even the ones that still survived. It had stripped them of the gleaming that had once covered almost everything, no matter how distasteful their societal system was.

There was nowhere Ariel saw this clearer than the deserted streets of her home city. As she walked down the empty, narrow road of the lower class residential sector, she felt a deep sorrow take hold in her spark to join the other pangs of loss and anger that already weighed on her.

_"We have lost so much," _she thought as she slowly walked towards her destination, _"so much that we can never regain even if we win in the end."_

That thought stayed with her until the end of her journey. The road continued winding along, but Ariel turned to her left, going up to a domicile that she had only been to once before.

Physically, there was nothing to separate it from the others that lined the street. It was a small structure by Cybertronian standards, with only one floor and a bare handful of rooms. But it was not the outward appearance that drew the rose shaded femme to the door.

She softly knocked before patiently waiting for the sole inhabitant to answer. Dimly she heard the muted shuffling of someone inside, but the door did not open and nobody answered her quiet knock.

"Optimus Prime?" Ariel called softly through the door. But then when nothing even moved in the room beyond, she tried in a much softer voice, "Orion Pax?"

She waited another cycle somewhat anxiously before she heard the scrape of a chair against the floor and the slow, heavy steps of someone coming to the door.

The door slid open with a slightly rusty whoosh to show the large red and blue mech standing there. Ariel looked up at him, a part of her hoping that it would be like when they had first met, their optics locking across the slight distance that separated them. Back then she knew she had surprised him from the stunned look on his face. It had taken Jazz speaking up behind him to shake the staring mech out of his daze, but as he had waved her into his residence, inwardly Ariel had been pleased. It wasn't every orbit that someone looked at her as if he thought she was beautiful.

But now there was no locking of optics. In fact, Orion Pax barely looked up as he held the door open for her. She entered without a word, the silence stretching even after Orion Pax closed the door and gestured her towards one of two chairs. Nodding her thanks, Ariel sat, hands folding automatically into her lap.

"I did not expect anyone to look for me here," Orion Pax finally admitted as he sat down across from her.

Unable to think of anything else, Ariel replied, "I knew you would be here."

His optics twitched slightly as if he wanted to look over at her, but resisted for some reason she could not fathom, or maybe, did not want to fathom.

_"Am I not worth looking at anymore?"_ She inwardly asked, wilting at the answer.

But the distant mech was unaware of her inward distress. "Oh?" Orion Pax said, asking without really speaking.

Ariel nodded, not able to bring herself to look at him when he so obviously did not want to see her. "Yes, I have a very strong sense of intuition." She told him, unsure of how else to describe her odd premonitions. She rarely told others of them, afraid they would write her off as malfunctioning, but she did not want to keep such secrets from the mech in front of her. She was almost as afraid of admitting the reason why as she was of his reaction to her words.

But to his credit, Orion Pax did not look at her as if he thought she had more than a few rusted wires in her head, but then, he still refused to look away from the window. Instead, he nodded slowly and did not speak for several cycles.

"Do you find it easy to trust your intuition Ariel?" He eventually asked, voice subdued.

Caught slightly off guard by the question, Ariel hesitated a klik before nodding. "Yes," she told him before thinking more on her answer. "I know that I feel things for a reason, whether it be because of a surrounding situation or something that I know or that happened to me in the past. My emotions guide me even as my rational mind advises me on the most prudent course of action." She told him, her voice level and self assured. There had been a time, when she had been much younger, when she had thought she was mad. But she had grown since then and she knew she was as sane as everyone else functioning. Even if her premonitions did set her apart from most of her peers.

But she did remember what it was like to doubt herself. And she still knew what it was like to be different.

Orion Pax nodded and looked down at the floor, optics thoughtful and reserved.

It took several cycles, but eventually Ariel gathered up the daring to speak. "What is it that you feel Orion Pax? Why are you sitting here alone?" She asked, hiding most of her hesitation.

The mech vented a long sigh, elbows leaning heavily on his knees as he shuttered his blue optics and hung his head.

"I am lost," he finally answered her.

Ariel blinked in surprise at his words. "But…" she stammered, unconsciously reaching out to him, but quickly catching herself, "but why?" She asked as she put her hand back in her lap.

Orion Pax gave a harsh burst of laughter, glaring at the scuffed metal floor. "Because honestly Ariel, I am not a Prime. I'm just a data clerk, a librarian," he nearly spat in derision, "how am I supposed to lead the Autobots to victory when I am nothing but a farce?"

"No Orion Pax, no," Ariel insisted, voice soft but firm, this time not resisting the urge to lay her hand on his arm, "you are exactly where you are supposed to be. You are Optimus Prime, as well as Orion Pax. Each is the same because they are both you. I don't know why you cannot see it as I do, but I _know_ you have it in you to be a great leader."

"And does your intuition tell you that as well?" He asked, scoffing at the idea, although Ariel wasn't sure if it was more at her intuition or the idea of him being a great leader.

Ariel shook her head. "No," she told him, wondering how he could not see himself as he truly was, "it is because I know _you_."

That gave him pause. For the first time since he had let her in, Orion Pax looked up at her, fully meeting her gaze.

Ariel did not even feel the urge to look away. "You are great, no matter which name you chose to go by, and I would follow you to the very end of the galaxy and back to prove it to you."

It wasn't until Orion Pax had stared at her for several cycles that Ariel began to feel embarrassed by her declaration, no matter how strongly she felt it was true.

"Do you really believe that Ariel?" The mech finally asked, his voice soft in wonderment.

Ariel smiled softly at him and nodded decisively. "Yes," she told him simply. Then she shyly looked down at the table top. "I just wish there was some way I could convince you of the same." She admitted.

If she had looked up at that moment, she would have seen the soft gaze the mech was giving her, as if he thought her more dear to him than anyone else alive. But she did not look up and she missed it, however she did not miss him placing his hand over hers where it still sat on his arm. "If you keep placing such faith in me then I am sure you will convince me some orbit soon." He admitted, gently patting her hand.

She felt the fluid rush to her faceplates as she looked up just enough to see her hand held in Orion Pax's. With wide optics she looked up at him.

Orion Pax stared back at her, his face just as astonished as hers as he realized it too.

They were holding hands.

They suddenly both leaned back, hurriedly taking their hands back out of sheer embarrassment, and although not even the meanest Decepticon interrogator could have gotten them to admit it, neither was exactly upset by the contact.

"So, eh," Orion Pax stuttered quickly, trying to look at anything else but his guest, "have you heard anything about Ariah yet?"

For some reason Ariel wasn't nearly as upset over the mech's refusal to look at her this time than before. It almost made her smile in fact, although she would never admit why. At least, not yet.

"N-no, I'm afraid not." The rose red femme coughed to hide her stutter. "However Chromia did tell me that she, Firestar, and the Praxian Inferno were going to scout out the edge of Primahex the next orbit when the Decepticons are busy with their siege on Praxus again." She told him, her buoyed spark sinking slightly at the thought of what was turning out to be a long, bitter siege of one of the proudest nations on Cybertron.

Orion Pax nodded, but didn't speak, his thoughts wavering between his worry for the little organic femme and hard put Praxus.

"You," Ariel spoke after a few quiet cycles, "you really do care for the little organic don't you?" She asked, an unexpected jealously sneaking up on her.

Orion Pax looked up at her again, surprise written all over his face. "Of course," he answered, clearly shocked at her question, "she is…" he tried to find the right word to describe exactly how he felt about the small, soft bodied, Aria.

Ariel looked away from him, her spark sinking further. "Yes, I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised with all the time you look after her. She is quite the remarkable creature."

Orion Pax's mouth fell open at her unspoken implication, looking more shocked than before if that was possible. "What?" He shouted in stunned surprise. "You think that I-she-we?" He stammered.

Then much to Ariel's astonishment, he started laughing, the first true laughter she had heard from him in orns.

"Primus no!" He finally said when he had enough air to speak through his gales of laughter. "Ariah is, well, she is my, my friend," he said, although he couldn't help but feel it still was not quite the right word. "But she is more then that," he quickly added, knowing he didn't have the words to explain himself correctly and wishing very much that he did, "she is my…responsibility."

Ariel quirked an optic ridge at him. "Your responsibility?" She asked, clearly confused.

Orion Pax looked slightly unsure now. "Well, yes, I found her and she is so young and soft and sometimes it seems that if I look at her wrong she'll break. Honestly I'm not sure how she can be so bold walking around us when just a little slip and someone might accidentally sit on her and then where would she be?" He asked, wondering briefly on if her kind had an afterlife, a matrix of some kind she would one day return to.

Ariel laughed lightly at his protective concern. "You worry too much Orion Pax. Aria is brave, not stupid. She is well aware of the difference between us and her. I dare say she is also very aware of your concern for her." She added, remembering some of the irritated glowers she had seen the organic give the large mech when he had expressed his concern for her safety regarding one action or another. "If I may speak bluntly Orion Pax, you worry more than an over protective guardian sometimes. Aria, while young even for her species, is well on her way to maturity. Just try and keep that in mind the next time she climbs onto Ratchet's table to find out what he's doing." She told him gently.

Orion Pax shuddered slightly at the memory. The chief medical officer had been conducting a minor surgery on one of the newer recruits, a brash young mech called Hot Rod, and she had just climbed up onto the table, never minding the surgeon's saws, and asked him what he was doing. The memory alone still sent Orion Pax to the point of glitching.

But…

"You're right," the large mech admitted with a vented sigh. But then the first hints of a smile returned to his otherwise somber face as he looked over at the pretty femme again, "and please, just call me Optimus."

Ariel smiled at him, a mix of pride and pleasure appearing in her system. "Of course," she told him unable to hide her delight at the offer.

They fell into silence again as they stared at each other, smiling. In fact, they were so busy looking at each other, enjoying the rare moment of happiness, that they didn't notice that someone was at the door until it swung open to show a slightly tense, silver mech standing in the doorway.

"Jazz?" Optimus asked, jumping slightly and not completely out of surprise, "how did you find us here?"

The smaller mech looked slightly overheated as he leaned against the open door frame. "Well, I wasn't looking for her," he said pointing over at the now jumpy Ariel, "but you weren't at the Hall of Records and this is the only other place I could think of." He admitted.

Then he seemed to realize just exactly who he had burst in on.

Optic ridges rising nearly to his crown, Jazz slowly looked back and forth between his two friends, optics clearly insinuating something.

"Oh for Primus' sake it wasn't like that!" Ariel finally shouted, putting her hands flat on the table as she stood up.

Jazz zeroed in on her, optic ridges still high on his head. "Wasn't like what?" He asked innocently enough. "I didn't say anything."

Ariel glowered at the intruding mech, but Optimus sighed before she could dig herself deeper into trouble.

"What did you want Jazz?" Optimus asked in resignation, recovering slightly from his earlier start.

Jazz's optic ridges finally descended a little as he turned back to his old friend. "Well I just thought that you'd like to know that Aria came back riding on top of a youngling, but if you two are in the middle of something I can just come back later and-"

Optimus rose suddenly to his feet. "What?" He all but shouted in total surprise. Then he quickly thought over what Jazz had said and tried to think of a more appropriately response, but could only come up with another even more disbelieving, _"What?"_

Jazz leveled a stare at him. "You heard me. She's full of surprises that one. If all organics are like this one then I will never visit her planet. _Ever_."

Optimus tried to process his friend's news, but wasn't getting very far. Fortunately, Ariel had a question of her own. "Where is she?" She asked urgently.

Jazz jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the center of the city and the hub of Autobot activity. "At the base, but that's not even the best part."

Optimus and Ariel shared a curious look. "Well what is?" Optimus regained enough of his senses to ask.

Jazz started grinning, a decidedly gleeful, mischievous, gesture. "Oh no, I'm not giving away the surprise. You'll just have to come and see for yourselves."

...

The old building next to the Hall of Records that served as the Autobot headquarters was packed by the time Optimus Prime and Ariel arrived, Jazz in the lead. Fortunately, they didn't have to shove much to get to the front of the crowd. The various mechs and femmes saw their Prime making his way through their ranks and eagerly stepped aside, more than willing to let him and the others through.

With everyone's compliance it wasn't long before the three broke through to the front of the mass of bodies all whispering in wonderment. Aria was standing there, near the door, Wheeljack, Chromia, and the youngling Jazz had mentioned standing by her side. Optimus couldn't help but notice the dazed looks on the two adults' faces, as if they had been shell shocked by the little organic. The youngling for his part just looked uncertainly at the crowd and its mass of attention as he chattered at Aria. Optimus guessed that he didn't know yet that the little femme couldn't understand him.

The room fell strangely silent when Optimus stepped towards his organic friend. She looked up at the sudden lack of noise and smiled when she spotted him, as innocent and alien as ever.

Optimus felt a substantial weight fall from his shoulders and he slumped slightly in relief. Carefully, he walked over to her and knelt so that they were more on eye level with each other.

"Ariah," he said, his relief clear in his voice despite his stiffness with her language, "what happened? How did you-?"

He stopped, frozen in mid sentence as he caught sight of the strange glowing sphere the organic femme held in her hands, tight against her chest.

_"No…"_ he managed to think before his processors stopped altogether.

Aria caught him staring at her precious cargo and lifted it up for him to get a better look at the glowing ball. As if he needed one to know what it was.

"I found it." She told him somewhat proudly. "I'm not sure what it is, but it was sitting at the bottom of this cavern where I found Bluestreak. Isn't it funny lookin'?" She asked, smiling as she peered at the glowing ball in her hands and showed it to him.

Stunned, the new Prime looked over at Wheeljack and Chromia, silently asking if they had any better idea of what was going on.

Chromia managed to shake her head, mouth still gaping slightly, shocked beyond speech, but Wheeljack managed to say, "She doesn't even know what it is."

Optimus gave a small, breathless laugh. That didn't surprise him. Not. At. All.

There was a slight commotion behind him as someone pushed their way to the front to see what was going on. The fuss died out when the mech succeeded and froze when he laid eyes on the sphere in Aria's outstretched hands.

"Is that what I think it is?" Optimus heard Ironhide whisper behind him. Dimly he noticed that even the gruff mech was held in a state of awe.

He whole sparkedly agreed. It just couldn't be true, and yet it was. The proof was right there in front of him, held carefully in Aria's little hands. But no matter how much Optimus doubted his own optics he still couldn't deny that there, sitting in her hands, was, for real and for true, the rarest of all objects on Cybertron.

"It's a _spark_."


	17. Chapter 17: Most Interesting of Meetings

Ok, now everybody together...a 1 and a 2 and a 3!

Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me! It's my birthday, happy birthday! Happy Birthday to Meeeee! Hooray! *singing* Today's my birthday and I'll post if I want to, post if I want to, oh wait! I want to! :3 And as a present to myself (and consequentally to you guys since it's a sharing sort of present) I'm putting up a oneshot today that's an offshoot of _I Lost A World!_. It's called _Not So Formal Introductions_ and you should all go read it right now! Well, okay not _right_ right now. Whenever you're done here. Then you should read it.

../\..

^..^ (Mrs. Mittens has already got her party hat on. Woohoo! Party!)

And wow! I though you went review crazy last time. So many new reviews - almost twenty! Warning! Warning! Inbox overload! - I can't thank all of you enough! It's just - wow! I want to thank you all...well why not? It's not like this isn't a long chapter anyway. Thanks to Fk306 animelover, HonoraryNoodleSniper, Vivian Hale, Sharpied(. )To(.)You, Autobot-Bre, Noella50881, Autobot Princess Arcee (may she Rest in Peace because apparently I made her explode with more adorableness then she could handle in that last chapter, a real shame since she won't get to meet the sparklings...), cascadenight, Mercedes Wolfcry, DeathByLackOMusic, Kelllie Witwicky (who I think is still happy dancing n.n;), Azura Soul Reaver, Chibi Oro, AlexisOptimus, dark-dreams-of-love, my anonymous reviewer, anon mimi, and, of course, Birgitte LP. Wow, you guy took up your own paragraph! Neat!

Oh, and in case anyone else was confused about how sparks can be rare on Cybertron if every Cybertronian has one, like anon mimi was, then; that's true, but that's also not what I meant. I meant that _new _sparks coming out of the Well are rare. So pretty much there are no sparklings now, well, except for the seven you've already seen.

And now I'm going in search of cake! And presents! Cake and Presents! XD So...Mars rover! Mars Rover! Let new bots come over! n.n Ha Ha!

...

I Lost A World!

17 – The Most Interesting of Meetings – 17

Silence followed Optimus Prime's staggering mumble.

Only Aria was untouched by the immense importance of what she had found. "A what?" She asked Optimus, completely clueless.

Her words created a wave of whispers in the crowd as the watching bots turned to speak with each other, either wondering at what their Prime's organic friend was saying or how she could be so dense not to know what a spark was and what this one meant.

Optimus opened his mouth to answer her, to explain at least a little aspect of what she had found, but was interrupted by a broad hand on his shoulder.

Optimus turned to see Ironhide looking at him. "Not to be too paranoid," the sturdy, black armored mech said, keeping his voice low, "but maybe we should continue this conversation somewhere a tad more private?" He suggested, suspiciously looking around the crowded room as if he expected Decepticon spies to just spring up out of the metalwork.

Still, it was a good idea. Optimus nodded, "Yes," he murmured before offering his hand to Aria, "Wheeljack, go find Ratchet, he should know about this. The rest of you, come with me. Ariah, if you don't mind?" He asked, switching to what he knew of her language as he quietly urged the organic femme onto his hand.

"Alright," she muttered unhappily, "just don't drop me. I only have so many hands you know." She told him as she warily sat cross legged in the palm of his hand, holding the precious spark in her lap. She had gotten slightly better about Cybertronians lifting her off the ground, but anyone who bothered to watch her could see it still unnerved her.

Optimus felt his mouth twitch in a slight smile. "I wouldn't dream of it." He told her before carefully climbing to his feet and leading Ariel, Jazz, Chromia, and Ironhide through a connecting tunnel into the far less crowded Hall of Records. It was the safest, not to mention quietest, place he could think of for what was bound to be the most interesting and sensitive of meetings.

As soon as they left the room, Optimus heard the muffled explosion of voices as every bot in the room behind them started talking at once. He made a mental note to remember to tell his forces to keep this to themselves. The last thing they needed was the Decepticons learning of their discovery. Megatron, in an appalling show of madness, had destroyed the sparkling sectors and their guardians near the start of the war. Now the only Cybertronian children still alive were the ones that had had creators, rather than emerging from the Well of Allsparks. Like almost everyone else, Optimus had thought that the Well had stopped bringing sparklings into their war torn world, but apparently, they had been mistaken.

Optimus didn't stop until he had reached the well guarded room that was still Alpha Trion's office. Quickly and quietly, he entered the old mech's office, everyone else filing in after him.

The old mech looked up from his ever present ancient tome, quill held in hand as they entered. "Well, well, well, what a surprise. Optimus, we weren't expecting you." He said as Jazz closed the door behind him.

Optimus dragged himself out of his thoughts enough to see that his mentor was not alone in the room. Two other mechs, one stiff necked and stern and the other giving off a very military vibe, were standing next to the old mech's desk. The first had his hands behind his back in a parade ground rest that was out of place in the Hall of Records while the second leaned against Alpha Trion's bookcase on the other wall, more at ease than the other despite his clear militant background. He was painted the dull metal grays that served as Cybertron military camouflage and he openly wore a missile launcher on his right shoulder that would have given even Ironhide's cannons a run for their credits, but his face was open and honest, giving him an almost charismatic look.

The other mech standing by Alpha Trion's desk was almost a complete opposite study. Instead of patchy cameo, he was painted the well ordered black and white of a Kaon law enforcement officer and his face bore the severe look, not to mention the scars, of one that had worked long and hard around the more miscreant members of society.

They had both looked up when the others entered Alpha Trion's office and, according to their transparent natures, the military mech grinned at them while the black and white's face gave away nothing.

"Optimus, this is Hound and Prowl," Alpha Trion said gesturing first to the cameo colored mech and then the stern black and white, "they were just filling me in on the situation near Kaon and Slaughter City in your absence."

Hound leaned away from the bookcase and approached the former data clerk with a grin. "Optimus Prime, it is an honor. I just about cheered when I heard you arguin' with that no good Megatron. Unfortunately I was stationed over at Fort Gig so I was the only one, but it's their own loss if they want to throw their lot in with a sadistic megalomaniac with mad delusions of grandeur. They can be my guest just so long as they don't get all snippy when they come up against me on the battlefield." He said, sounding almost cheery about it as he held out his rough hand to his Prime.

Managing a small smirk at Hound's words, Optimus Prime took the offered hand. "It is an honor to meet you as well Hound. It's reassuring to know that not all of the military castes went over to Megatron's side." He admitted, firmly grasping the mech's hand.

Hound gave Optimus a slanted grin as he let go and turned to the mech standing behind him. "Ironhide you tough old slagger what're you doing here? I thought a stubborn old mech like you would have stayed in Praxus till the bitter end, or someone dragged you out by the neck. How did you make it out of the continent?"

As the two mechs traded stories and friendly insults, Optimus turned toward the still silent Prowl. The officer inclined his head respectfully to the large red and blue mech and planted a fist over his spark. "Prime." He said by way of greeting.

Optimus returned the gesture and then looked over at Alpha Trion to see if this was normal behavior for the black and white mech.

"He isn't all that social," Alpha Trion admitted, "but he's a brilliant tactician. At the risk of sounding too omniscient, I dare say you're going to need his help."

Optimus Prime nodded to show he understood, but before he could say anything, Alpha Trion was speaking again.

"Now, eh, why are all of you crammed into my office again?" He asked, sounding slightly confused.

Optimus couldn't resist grinning slightly at the old mech. "Nope, no risk of sounding too all-knowing at all."

"Aria found a spark." Chromia spoke up for the first time since Optimus had seen her standing next to the organic in the crowded hall, although he couldn't help but notice she still sounded somewhat dazed.

"You're yanking my chains," Hound answered bluntly, clearly not taking her seriously.

"It's true ya great idgit." Ironhide told him. "Just use your optics for once."

Optimus brought his hand down to Alpha Trion's desk, holding still so Aria could climb onto the solid surface. The little spark was still clasped tight in her hands.

That shut Hound up right quick. "Well I'll be a cyber-monkey's creator's brother," he breathed as he leaned down to get a closer look. "It really is a spark."

Alpha Trion and Prowl leaned closer as well, neither speaking for a long cycle as they absorbed this new, astounding, piece of information.

"Oh my, my, my," Alpha Trion eventually said as he peered at the little sphere Aria held, "you always bring such interesting things into my office Optimus."

Optimus had no answer to that. He didn't even know if this would become a regular occurrence or not. The thought that it would frightened him slightly.

Aria was the first to speak after another long, disconcerting, moment of everyone staring at her. "Alright so we're alone," she said giving the now crowded room another look, "sort of. Now will someone please tell me what all the fuss is about? Just what exactly is this thing anyway?" She asked, holding up the spark.

There was a sudden whoosh as the group of bots sucked in air at her careless handling of the little spark. Optimus nearly felt his own spark falter at the sight. Uncertain of how to explain this in terms the little organic would understand, he looked over at Ariel, silently pleading for help.

The rose red femme nodded slightly at his request and came forward. "It is a spark, Aria, one of our offspring. Please be more careful with him." Ariel explained patiently.

A look of pure horror flooded Aria's face. "It's a baby?" She choked, holding the little spark farther away from her body. "And I've been using it as a flashlight?" She demanded, her pitch climbing higher and higher until her voice was barely more than a squeak at the end.

Fortunately, she was spared the mortification of having to explain what a flashlight was by Ratchet and Wheeljack's abrupt entrance. Wheeljack was practically giddy now, having gotten over his previous shock, but the older medic nearly stopped functioning at the sight of Aria holding the little spark.

"I-I don't believe it," he gasped when he was firing on enough pistons to think straight. "I thought they were all gone. Where in the world did she find it?" He asked as he stared, mesmerized, by the little, yellow spark the organic held.

Ariel quickly asked Aria the same question in a language she could understand.

"Well I'm not rightly sure." Aria answered, holding the spark more carefully now. "You see, I was thrown into this lava pit by this fra-, eh," she hesitated with a look at the little ball in her hands and reminded herself not to swear around the baby, "this _freaking_ little minicon and after walking forever through the dark, found this little guy just sitting on the ground, although all the others are still stuck in the wall of this huge cavern-"

"Others?" The seven voices of those that could understand her all demanded at once.

Aria flinched before nodding at the bots standing over her. "Yeah, about six others all in the cavern I was telling you abou-"

"What cavern?" Ratchet demanded.

Aria slanted him a dirty look at his interruption. "I don't know," she replied somewhat snippily, "_the_ cavern, the only one I found in that whole underground maze."

"Here," Ariel said, handing over the smallest data pad she could find, "show us."

After carefully setting down the little spark on a nest of soft metal fabrics Alpha Trion found in his desk drawers, Aria leaned over the data pad that was easily twice as tall as she was and started drawing the spark cavern on its electronic screen.

"Oh!" She cried in delight, her little blue optics lighting up as her image began to take shape in the air in front of her, projected by some kind of holographic system implanted in the flat device laid out on the desk at her feet. Laughing, she finished filling in the rest of the blackness of the cave around the sparks and then drew a stick figure of herself to show proportions.

"So cool!" She giggled in delight when she was done. "It's like Photoshop but better." In the air before her, her drawing flickered slightly as dust motes drifted in front of the projector.

"It's like she's never seen a data pad before," Hound muttered to Ironhide standing next to him.

"She hasn't." Chromia answered him from the armored mech's other side.

"Sheltered little critter isn't she?" The military mech pointed out, making his old Praxian friend nod in agreement.

"That is magnificent Ariah," Optimus told his little friend, choosing to ignore Hound and Ironhide's whispered comments, "but what about above ground? Where is the entrance to this place?"

Aria's brow furrowed in thought. "I'm not exactly sure," she told him, "I only saw the exit for a second when we first came out on the surface, and I didn't recognize anything around it."

Optimus tapped the data pad, bringing up a clean page. "Can you show us?" He asked.

Aria nodded and frowned down at the white slate in front of her, trying to remember as much detail as she could.

As the little organic quickly drew on the data pad, Hound leaned around Ironhide to look over at the blue and silver femme that had answered him earlier.

He smiled at her. "Sorry, but I don't think I caught you name before darlin'." He said, asking without actually asking.

The silver femme glanced over at him from the corners of her optics, a mischievous smile playing across her face that Hound liked the look of. But before she could speak the 'mute it,' he could see behind her lips, Ironhide shoved him back.

"Now don't go getting any ideas you hound dog," his old friend growled at him, "Chromia's too good for the likes of you anyhow."

Hound was too surprised at Ironhide's reaction to feel very offended. "Why Ironhide you old rascal, just who is this pretty femme exactly that she's got you all worked up over her name?" Hound asked looking over at Chromia much more curiously now with a meaningful grin.

Ironhide none too gently elbowed his old friend. "Would you kindly stuff it Hound?" He growled, carefully avoiding the question. "This is actually important."

For her part, Chromia just stood there quietly, listening to the two mechs badger each other as she bit back her grin.

"Aren't we enjoying all the attention?" Ariel murmured to her sister.

Chromia snorted lightly. "As if your one to talk, right?" She answered back with a significant look at the broad red and blue painted shoulders in front of them.

"Ta-da!" Aria interrupted their conversation and the mech's budding argument as she finished sketching out the landscape she remembered seeing when Bluestreak had finally exited the underground labyrinth.

"Great," Jazz murmured as he and the others carefully inspected the holographic image, "I don't recognize it. Do any of you?"

They all shook their heads, some muttering negatives.

"So how do we get there?" Chromia asked slightly impatient now.

Aria was beginning to look unnerved by all the sudden, insistent attention as every eye retrained itself on her. "I don't know. Ask Bluestreak. He's the one that got me out of there."

"Bluestreak?" Jazz asked. "Who's Bluestreak?"

A slight noise made all of the bots turn around. There, standing by the door looking as if he wanted nothing more than to bolt from such fearsome warrior bots like the commander of the Autobots and his friends, stood the youngling that had driven Aria to Iacon.

For a long cycle, the adults blinked at the boy, each of them wondering how they had missed his presence to begin with.

"Hello," Optimus finally found his voice. "Are you Bluestreak?"

The little mech eyed the adults watching him, and then nodded quickly. "Yes," he squeaked.

Slowly, not wanting to frighten the boy, Optimus inclined his head. "It is nice to meet you Bluestreak. I am Optimus Prime-"

The little mech's optics lit up as his whole frame leaned forward in excitement. "Oh I know sir. My guardian Solarwind used to talk about you all the time. He said you were one of the bravest Primes he had ever heard of and that if anyone could defeat that nasty old Megsie it would be you." He finished, speaking faster than any child Optimus had ever heard.

A snort of laughter followed Bluestreak's words. Optimus looked over to see Hound grinning wickedly at the child's name for Megatron. "Megsie," he laughed again, "I'm going to have to remember that one. Nice name kid. Your guardian has quite the sense of humor." He said, smiling over at the young mech.

But Bluestreak looked down at the floor, his small hands clinging together anxiously in front of his frame.

Optimus exchanged a worried look with Ariel over the little mech's head, his silence telling them more than all his words put together.

Ratchet must have finally dragged his attention away from the spark because he suddenly gasped in horror as he caught sight of the still untreated scratches and dents that littered the youngling's frame.

"Dear Primus, what happened to you boy?" Ratchet demanded, outraged at the sight of the injured youngling.

Bluestreak flinched at the medic's loud voice and refused to look up as he nervously wrung his hands together. But eventually he gathered up enough courage to whisper, "Starscream," into the grave silence of the room.

Optimus felt a fierce rage light in his spark at the hateful name. How dare that sycophantic Seeker harm a youngling like that, not to kill but just to take pleasure out of causing harm to another living being. At that moment Optimus wanted nothing more than to find this Starscream and wring his sorry frame, but somehow he resisted the strong urge to ball his hands into firsts, afraid it would only frighten the youngling further.

But then comfort for the little mech came from an unexpected source.

"Are you from Helix, youngling Bluestreak?"

Bluestreak finally looked up from the ground, along with the rest of the room's inhabitants, at the sound of the low, unfamiliar voice. Prowl still stood stiffly beside Alpha Trion's desk, only now instead of distantly watching the mechs and femmes that had suddenly joined them, he was looking over at the blue and gray youngling standing anxiously near the door.

Bluestreak glanced up at the withdrawn mech uncertainly, and then nodded quickly.

Prowl nodded at the little mech. "I was there a few orbits ago. They called us in when the Decepticons took out the city's forces on their way to the Praxus border." He explained calmly to the little mech before carefully crossing the room to kneel down in front of him. "May I?" He asked, holding out a hand towards the youngling's arm.

After a slight hesitation, Bluestreak nodded.

Gently, the taciturn officer picked up the youngling's arm and inspected the cuts that marred its surface. "You should have Ratchet here look at those, but I don't think you're in danger of off lining any minute." He told him and then silently waited.

Eventually, Bluestreak tried to fill in the silence. "Were you afraid?" He asked the law enforcement officer in a small voice.

Prowl nodded slightly. "Yes," he admitted to the boy, "at first, but then I fought back and the 'cons weren't so frightening anymore." He told the child. "If you care to learn, I can teach you how to protect yourself youngling Bluestreak."

The youngling's bright blue optics grew wide. "Really?" He squeaked, "You'd let me be an Autobot? Yes! Yes! Yes! I want to fight Decepticons just like all of you." He said, regaining some of his energy at the idea of turning into a brave warrior like the bots in front of him.

The stoic Prowl managed to smile a little at the youngling, although the action felt out of place on his faceplates. "Well first you should have Ratchet fix you up." He told the little mech.

Bluestreak nodded. "Alright, but will I see you later Prowl? And Optimus Prime and Ironhide and Jazz and Chromia? Oh, and Ms. Ariel and Aria and the sparkling too when it's got its first frame and-"

"Yes, yes, alright," Ratchet interrupted the youngling impatiently as he took his hand and guided him toward the door with a gentleness that surprised the youngling, "you'll be able to see everyone once I've gotten you fixed up youngling. Oh, and speaking of frames," he said turning back around to face Optimus, "we're going to need to find more parts for his first frame." Ratchet tore his gaze away from the injured youngling long enough to point at Aria's sparkling. "I should have all the required parts in my lab back in the med sector. Wheeljack knows where everything is. Although if there really are six other sparks down there then we might have to be more creative with the parts we have." The old medic pointed out.

"Well then we'll just have to go find some more." Ironhide spoke up before switching to the crude imitation of organic speech Chromia had taught him during Aria's absence. "C'mon little Sparkfinder," Ironhide said to Aria as he made his way determinedly towards the door, "let's see what other kind of luck you bring."

Aria rolled her eyes at the trigger happy mech, but climbed back onto Optimus' hand so they could follow him anyway. "Do you mind watching the spark until we get back Alpha Trion?" The little organic asked quickly before Optimus left the room.

The old mech nodded at her. "Of course, it's fine." He told her, making the organic femme smile at him as the door closed behind her and Optimus.

Alpha Trion shook his head once he was left alone with the spark before opening up his old book and picking up his quill. "It's quite amazing," he muttered as he wrote something down before he could forget it, "I'm hundreds of vorns old and still I'm being asked to spark sit at the oddest of times."

As if he took some offense to the old mech's words, the spark flashed fussily at him from where he sat swaddled next to the quill stand.

"Oh don't take it that way," Alpha Trion told the glowing spark. "Besides, they're going to be right back and with a whole new mess of parts for you and the others for your first frames. Please try and behave yourself until then at least."

The spark flickered at him again, but not quite as brightly as before.

The old mech couldn't help but smile at the little glowing sphere. "Oh you're going to be a special one alright, don't need my book to tell me that. I can feel it. Especially with your choice in guardians. Although I feel I must warn you, you have absolutely no idea what you're getting yourself into my little friend."

The spark flickered sleepily, tired out by all this talking, telling the perceptive old mech that he would take his chances.

...

Finding Ratchet's parts was easy. Even finding the cavern entrance wasn't nearly as hard as anyone thought it would be. It turned out that it was the sparks themselves that made up the hard part.

"So why can't we just pick them up again?" Aria asked for the fourth time in as many minutes. She had already asked Optimus, Ariel, and Chromia, but they had been so busy marveling at the sparks shining in the wall that none of them had bothered to answer her. And at the moment, it didn't look like Wheeljack was going to be any more help than they had been.

"Well," the white and green mech said slowly as he placed a hand on the cavern wall, "pure sparks like this are so easily influenced that just a touch could lead to imprinting and that's generally discouraged until they get their first frame and are technically a sparkling."

Aria raised an eyebrow at him, getting the feeling that that would have been more understandable if he had said it in Cybertronian. Still, it was more than the others had given her. "What do you mean by imprinting?" She asked as she followed Wheeljack down the cave wall as he scanned its surface, collecting information.

"Huh? Oh, it's uh, it's where the newly created sparkling instantly bonds with a certain bot, who then becomes its guardian, or caretaker. They're the ones that watch out for the sparkling and take care of him until he receives his final frame. Even then the bond is strong between the guardian and the younger bot."

Aria took a few lazy steps after the inventor, absorbing his words. "So…" she finally began uncertainly, "you build bodies for your bab-eh sparklings?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yup," Wheeljack said.

"But the sparks themselves come from holes in an underground cave?" She asked, just to be sure. Even as far as alien robots went, this seemed to be just a tad too far out of reasonable to Aria's organic mind.

"You got it," Wheeljack told her, finally turning away from the apparently extremely fascinating worn metal wall. "Although," he added after a moment of thought, "some sparklings are created through sparkmates instead of coming from the Well of Allsparks."

Aria found herself looking up at the inventor, wondering if she dared to ask what he was talking about now. She did. "Sparkmates?"

Wheeljack nodded. "Yeah, they're bonded pairs, or, erm, how else to describe them, a couple of, ah," _"A couple of whats?"_ He asked himself.

But fortunately for him, teenage humans were all about describing things in vague notions like 'couples'.

"Oh," Aria said in realization, "couples, okay got it."

Wheeljack looked down at Aria uncertainly. Not for the first time he reflected on how strange organic speech was, fluctuating from impossibly specific to horribly vague more times than he could count in just a single conversation, sometimes even in a single sentence.

"Yes, well," he continued, trying to remember where he had stopped, "sparkmates can create a spark, however after that the process is really just the same, even though the bonds are slightly different between creator and offspring than they are in guardians and sparklings."

Aria nodded slowly as she thought this through. "That sounds more like how we bear and raise children." Aria said, thinking out loud. "You've got a mom and a dad and between the two of them you end up with a baby. One plus one equals three." She told the inventor with a grin.

Wheeljack nodded. "Interesting." He mumbled, trying to imagine how organic parents gained enough soft parts to build frames for their children. _"I wonder how they keep them from disintegrating until the organic spark is ready."_

Fortunately for Aria's gag reflex, he didn't say that out loud. Instead he settled on several different questions he wanted answers to. "Now maybe you can explain some things to me Aria," Wheeljack asked looking down at his organic friend, "for instance, how does your kind create sparks for your offspring if there is no Well of Allsparks? Do they only come from sparkmates then?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Although we don't call them sparkmates. When a mech and femme pair off like that we usually say they're married, or husband and wife." Aria told him as she lazily followed him, staring at the walls in the new and improved lighting they had brought with them.

Wheeljack nodded as he processed this new information. "And how do this husband and wife create a spark between them?" He asked curiously, wondering if it was similar to bonding between sparkmates.

Aria froze in her tracks when she realized what the answer was to the curious mech's question. "I am not having this conversation." She told Wheeljack flatly.

"But-" the inventor tried.

"No." Aria said turning away. "End of story."

"But it's not the end I'm concerned with," Wheeljack called after her, "it's the beginning."

She either didn't hear him or just plain refused to answer. But, as she found out later, it was already too late. Wheeljack was curious now.

"So have you guys figured anything out yet?" Aria asked as she stopped near where Optimus was speaking with Ariel, Chromia, and Ironhide, discussing how to get the sparks back to the surface and then Iacon without imprinting on them she guessed.

Ariel was the only one to turn toward hers, the others continuing their discussion. "I'm afraid not, young Aria," the femme told her, "it seems that finding a safe way to transport them is proving more difficult then we first anticipated."

Aria nodded as Chromia spoke up in Cybertronian. "Maybe we can get Firestar down here and she can carry them. Her bed should be big enough for all of them." She suggested with another thoughtful look over at the glowing sparks.

Optimus made a thoughtful sound in the back of his vocal processor. "Yes, but I would feel better if we could find a way to keep them from sight so no wandering Decepticons can just happen to see them."

"And besides she would still need something to wrap them up in so that they didn't make physical contact with her frame, unless she wants to become a guardian to six little glowing balls of joy." Ironhide pointed out.

Chromia blinked at the mental image that presented, then laughed loudly. "It would be absolute mayhem! The first time any of them had a tantrum she would give them to the Decepticons."

Optimus looked horrified at the very thought, but Ariel slanted her old friend a look. "Or she would just threaten to leave them with Auntie Chromia until they learned to behave." She said slyly.

"Hey now!" Chromia protested, "what are you talking about? I love younglings. I'm wonderful with younglings. That little mech of Silverwolf's adored me! He was always begging me to watch him when Silverwolf was on shift and I wasn't thank you so much."

"Says the femme that left him at the transport station the second time she watched him." Ariel said, trying hard not to smile. "Poor little thing was so distraught he called me to come and pick him up because no one else would pick up their comm."

"It was an accident!" Chromia cried. "You're just never going to let me forget that are you?"

Ariel grinned at her sister. "No." She told her truthfully.

Ironhide snorted. "That's nothing, the first time I had to spark-sit I took my optics away from the youngster for two kliks and he went and wandered into a cryo-stasis chamber. It took Hound and me cycles to find the kid. Lucky for us the room's power had been cut for maintenance and he just thought we were playing hide and seek."

"Well if the room was warm then that's not so bad." Chromia said, relieved that the youngling had been alright.

Ironhide, however, still looked a little traumatized. "His creator was my immediate superior."

The other three stared at him, either imagining the horror of a situation like that or trying not to laugh at it altogether.

Mainly it was Chromia trying to hold in her amusement. Partly to distract herself, and partly for an actual answer, she turned to the warrior mech and said, "I never would have expected you to be fond of younglings Ironhide." She said, trying to sound more offhanded about it than she felt, not that she had much success.

He thought about telling her that his commanding officer had left the youngling with him because he thought that if anyone could keep the little frame of energy out of trouble it was gruff, imposing Ironhide, but quickly decided against it. Admitting he had been ordered into spark-sitting just because the little bot's creator thought Ironhide would scare the kid into obedience took some of the niceness out of it, he realized. Usually he wouldn't have cared one way or the other what anyone thought of him in that department, but Chromia changed everything.

So instead he settled on, "Yeah, I do tend to give that impression, but they're not so bad once they open up a bit," _"and stop gawking in terror at your cannons,"_ he thought.

Besides, the youngling had actually grown on him, you know, once they had found him.

"And you?" Ironhide asked Chromia, eager to get the focus off of his previous experience in losing younglings in heavily fortified, extremely dangerous military bases filled with all kinds of advanced weaponry.

Chromia smirked at him boldly, her expression doing funny things with the old mech's spark. "That depends," she said, voice low and smooth.

For the first time in a long time, Ironhide felt a thrill of nervous excitement shoot through his frame. "On what?" He finally found enough voice to ask.

Subtly, Chromia leaned closer to him, never taking her sly blue gaze off of his. "On if you're making me an offer." She murmured to him.

Any cool the mech might have had disappeared at the femme's low words and it took all of his stubbornness not to just shiver with Chromia still watching him.

Fortunately he was saved from the others' scrutiny (and noticing their barely held in laughter at his dumbfounded expression he had no doubt) by a small voice calling out from near their feet. It was difficult, but somehow Ironhide managed to tear his attention away from the fascinating blue frame next to him and focused on organic Aria's foreign words. True he had learned a little from Chromia, but most of his attention hadn't been on the lesson, exactly.

"Well what about Bluestreak and me?" She asked, looking up at their towering frames. "I mean, he's a kid and I'm an alien so the bonds between us should be different right?"

Ariel pondered this for a moment. "It's true that Bluestreak is too young to form a guardian bond with the sparks, and Aria's anatomy is so different that it would be difficult to form any kind of bond with her at all, spark to spark at least anyway." She mused out loud.

"Right, exactly," Aria said, "So why don't Bluestreak and I just pick them up? We carry them, you guys carry us." She suggested.

The adults looked at each other. Her idea was so simple, so easy, that they wondered how they had missed it before.

Optimus looked down at his organic friend. "That could work." He announced.


	18. Chapter 18: First Impressions

Ah haha! Surprise update! So, eh, Surprise! I was going to post an extra chapter on Thanksgiving day, but it looks like I won't have any internet service, so I'm posting today instead. And don't worry, I'll still put the next one up on Tuesday too. This is just a bonus! And oh what a bonus it is...*sneakily raises eyebrows and grins* Oh yeah, I had some fun with this one. ;)

And I just want to say thanks to the _nineteen _( XD !) reviewers for their awesomeness and birthday wishes! You make me want to have my birthday more often! Hmmm...I wonder if that would work...

u.u Ok, so maybe not.

And I want to give special thanks to demon of my heart and mind for their gracious help and Birgitte LP for her advice. You probably should too since she was the one that told me yes, updating early is a _good_ thing.

And now for some announcements: 1.) _di di_ and _meimei_ are Chinese for little brother and little sister respectively_. __Jie Mei_, also Chinese, is older sister and the show I allude to (where I first heard these) is Firefly (awesome show, watch it if you love sci-fi! n_n). Numero 2! I have finished writing out this story and started writing on what I hope will be an awesome sequel. And # 3:

I HAVE ACTUALLY FINISHED THE STORY! *SCREAM!*

X) I've never done that before! Oh ! Come to think of it I've never finished any multi-chapter story before so...*squeeeee!*

^O.O^ *"Save me!" thinks Mrs. Mittens*

n_n; eh hehehe, sorry, I'm all better...wait, what are you watching me for? Start reading so you can meet everybody! Just keep the noise down or you'll wake them up...;3

Happy Thanksgiving! (in advance)

...

I Lost A World!

18 – First Impressions – 18

"Aw, they are so _cute_!" Aria cooed an orn later. She was sitting on top of an empty counter looking down at the seven squirming new frames lying in metallic bassinets at the far end of the med bay. She, along with what felt like most of the Autobots stationed in Iacon, had invaded the medical wing when the news had gone out that all seven sparklings had onlined beautifully a few cycles ago.

Of course, the sudden rush of bots had nearly given Ratchet a spark-attack and he had practically emptied his mechanics bag by hurling his more readily available tools at the unfortunate mechs near the front of the surge.

"They're not even an orbit old and I've just gotten them into recharge! For Primus' sake don't wake them up!" The old medic had hissed at the crowd, holding a large wrench threateningly in one hand.

But it was too late. The high pitched cry of one of the sparklings echoed up from the quieter half of the med bay. It was soon followed by the other six that had woken up at their fellow's cry.

Ratchet turned an evil optic on the crowd.

They had scattered before he could so much as raise his wrench.

Aria watched their sudden dust trail in amazement. "Wow," she whistled low through her teeth, "that was impressive." Then she had turned back to the ornery medic. "Can I see them Ratchet? Oh _please!_" She had begged, clasping her hands together pleadingly in front of her chest. He had growled at her slightly, frustrated by the pitiful wails coming from behind him, but he couldn't find the harm in letting someone as small as Aria coming back. The sparklings might even find her entertaining and quiet down.

"Alright," he relented, but then he had pointed his wrench at her in warning, "but no touching. Alien or not they're bursting with new energy and still haven't bonded with their guardians yet. Someone could get hurt." Although he wasn't sure if he should worry more for the defenseless, impressionable sparklings or the extremely squishable Aria.

He had taken her back, lifting her onto a counter that sat close to the last basinet before going about trying to soothe the little bots, picking one up to hold him gently before hollering for Hoist and Wheeljack to come and help him.

Aria stared down at the little bot crying below her in amazement. He, she knew it was a he, was really nothing more than a mess of wires barely covered by small, thin plates – the robot equivalent of a newborn who was nothing more than wrinkles and soft skin, red faced from their first cries – that were colored the most blinding shade of yellow Aria had ever laid eyes on. Somehow she wasn't surprised that these had been lying around Ratchet's lab, free for the taking.

But the majority of her attention was elsewhere. "Hey there," Aria cooed at the little baby bot, "I know you. You're my little Glowball. What're you so sad for Glowball sparkling? Did those mean ol' mechs wake you up?" She murmured, automatically taking on the baby-talk she had dreaded so much when her sister had been born. Her parents hadn't been able to shake the habit even when their youngest daughter was out of the room. All the constant 'wuh-wo's' and 'I wuv woo's' had just about driven Aria mad.

But now she was starting to understand that it was completely addictive and quite out of her conscious control.

"Ah yes, there you go," Aria cooed as the little yellow bot blinked glowing baby blue eyes and focused in on her small face. Her heart just about burst out of her chest with joy when he smiled at her and started giggling, his feet kicking excitedly against the end of his small bed. Between his fragile chest plates, the bright glow of his spark shone through the gaps in his outer skin, making his small plates seem dark in comparison.

Aria giggled at the giddy sparkling. "You are so _cute._You look just like a bumblebee my tiny friend." She told him.

"A what?"

Aria looked up to see the familiar frames of Jazz, Ariel, and Chromia as they walked toward her and the agitated sparklings.

"A bumblebee," Aria said again looking over at Jazz, who had asked in the first place, "they're these little insects on Earth that go buzz and have stingers on their back ends. They're yellow with black stripes with these itty bitty wings on their backs that shouldn't be able to lift them, but just try and tell the bees that." She told him, giddy with excitement.

Jazz looked down at the smallest of the younglings. The little yellow bot looked back up at him, head tilting slightly as he stared, unsure of what to make of this new mech standing over him. Somewhat surprised, Jazz pointed down at the now quiet sparkling. "Earth insects are the size of sparklings?" He asked incredulously. It was a miracle all the organics hadn't been carried off and eaten.

"What?" For the first time Aria turned away from the yellow sparkling to stare at Jazz. "No! I'm just saying that he kinda looks like one," she said as she turned back towards the confused looking sparkling, "yes you do, you look like a little bumblebee." She cooed down at the little bot.

Jazz looked down at the yellow sparkling with some sympathy. He could practically hear the tag sticking to the little bot's frame. _"__Poor __bot,__" _he thought, _"__but __better __you __than __me.__"_

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a screaming sparkling being shoved in his face.

"Hey!" He yelled, automatically taking the sparkling to keep it from being pushed any closer. Already the little bot's cries were starting to damage his auditory receptors.

A much hassled Ratchet took no notice of Jazz's reluctance. "Here, take him," he ordered, not even looking to make sure Jazz had the squalling bot before letting go and turning to the others.

"What? Why me?" The smaller mech demanded as he awkwardly held the distraught sparkling away from his frame.

The medic didn't even turn around as he answered. "Because you obviously don't have a parental part in you frame." He said, sounding frazzled as he looked down at each sparkling, trying to comfort them all at once.

"Gee, thanks," Jazz muttered, but didn't argue, especially if it meant he wouldn't have to take care one of these temperamental sparklings permanently in the coming vorns.

Three basinets down, Chromia was leaning over one of the slimmer sparklings. "Hey Ariel, look at this, it's a little femme!" She said, excitedly waving her friend over.

The red femme came over quickly, excitement showing through her usual serene nature. "Really?" She asked as she leaned over the middle basinet. "But there are only seven of them. Usually there's not even one in fifty!" She wondered in excitement as she looked down at the little hiccupping mini-femme.

The sparkling paused in mid hiccup as she caught sight of the two femmes standing over her. Then forgetting her tears, she reached up her small arms to them, gurgling as she begged them to pick her up.

"Well," Ratchet spoke up from where he stood, now patiently feeding one of the small mechs, "she's taken to you two it seems. Bonded sisters?" He asked looking over at the two femmes.

Vaguely both Chromia and Ariel nodded, there attention completely occupied by the small femme reaching up for them. They knew, along with everyone else, that sometimes sparklings from the Well of Allsparks didn't just choose one guardian; they chose two. But that was mainly in the case of siblings and, curiously enough, more with sets of sisters rather then brothers.

Ratchet nodded, an infinitesimal grin pulling at his faceplates, a sight that would have made most of the others stare if their attention hadn't already been preoccupied by the squirming sparklings. "Congratulations then, and good luck. She's been the most vocal of them all, although interestingly enough, not the touchiest of the lot."

"That's just because she knows what she likes," Chromia said, breaking out of her mute staring as she reached down and picked the little femme up, showing pink panels in the bright med bay light, "Isn't that right little one?" She said as she held the little sparkling carefully against her chest before turning to look at her sister. "It looks like we have a new sister." She said, grinning at the now smiling Ariel.

Aria looked up at the flash of pink and grinned when she saw Chromia holding the little femme bot.

"It's a little _meimei_!" Aria cried in delight as she stood up, leaning over the counter's edge to try and get a better look at the mini-femme. It was like getting a little sister all over again. Except with adding six boys in the process.

The moment she looked away from him, the little yellow sparkling began to fuss, quickly giving over to loud, squeaky wails. His loud, thin voice quickly drew a small crowd as its high pitch carried over the now subdued cries of the others.

"Oh, no _di __di_, don't cry," Aria cooed over him, using a word for 'little brother' she had heard from a TV show back home. She thought it was Chinese, like _meimei_, but she wasn't sure. And with her little yellow bot edging toward a full blown fit she couldn't bring herself to care one way or the other.

"My, he's sure not a happy little thing is he?"

Aria looked away from the fussy sparkling at Alpha Trion's voice. He, as well as Optimus, Hound, Prowl, and Ironhide had just come in, probably from some sort of meeting or another. Aria noticed that most of them flinched at the shrill cries echoing around the clean, bright room.

Aria shook her head at the oldest mech, upset because her new _di __di _was upset. "I don't know what's wrong!" She cried, halfway towards shedding a few tears herself. She felt a brief wave of confusion at her sudden stress, like she had just walked on stage for the second grade spelling bee all over again, but quickly wrote it off as all the excitement of seven new babies. The stress from Sera's arrival had been bad enough back home, but this - this was just nuts. "Bumblebee just stared crying and I don't know why!"

That caused quite a few confused glances as Aria turned back toward the crying sparkling, hushing and cooing at him as soothingly as she could still manage.

"What's she mean she can't comfort him?" Hound muttered to Ironhide standing next to him. "I thought she was the little sparkling's guardian cause she had direct contact with his spark for so long."

Ironhide could only shrug, just as confused, but Prowl shifted slightly nearby, catching both mechs' attention. "It appears we thought wrong. Obviously she isn't his guardian or he would be calmed by her presence now."

"But she has to be." A new voice spoke up.

The three adults looked down to find Bluestreak in his usual position next to the black and white mech that had become his primary teacher. The youngling fidgeted slightly at the sudden attention but didn't fall silent. If anything he started talking more.

"I mean, she was carrying Bumblebee's spark. She has to be his guardian. I saw her with him and he didn't zap her or nothing like some of the other mismatched pairs I've seen and lots of sparklings came through Helix so I've seen plenty of botched matches. He just sat there and flickered sometimes and I know they've got a bond between them I really do! That's why for awhile I wanted to stay with her when we first got here because I thought she was already going to be looking after one youngling already and I thought she wouldn't object to just one more. But now-"

The adults stared in stunned disbelief at the mass of words that came tumbling from Bluestreak's vocal processor. He was starting to trail off, mumbling to himself, when Alpha Trion laughed quietly.

"You notice quite a bit little one." The old mech said not unkindly before holding out a hand to the embarrassed youngling. "Now why don't you come over here while the adults try and assimilate your observations? It appears that most of the sparklings are calming down and I think they'd enjoy some company closer to their own age."

Bluestreak bridled a bit at that. "I'm not a sparkling." He muttered but took Alpha Trion's hand anyway. He was still glaring a bit when he peeked over the rim of the twin's bassinet, but he cheered up when one of them grabbed one of Alpha Trion's long whiskers and gave it an experimental tug, making the old mech yelp in surprise.

"I pity the one that gets stuck with those two," Wheeljack said as he came in to the impromptu nursery, "they've been nothing but trouble since we brought them online." He griped.

If Aria hadn't been so preoccupied with little Bumblebee she would have noticed the fresh skid marks that had been left across Wheeljack's arm by itty, bitty wheels earlier that orbit.

Alpha Trion laughed as he untangled the left twin's – the green one while his brother was red – tiny hand from his long whiskers and stood up, safely getting out of reach. "Fortunately I think I know someone who might take them off our hands at least for awhile if he isn't in fact their guardian, which I find doubtful."

"Yes, well," Wheeljack grumbled lightly as he absentmindedly rubbed at his new decorations, "as long as they quit making trouble around here I don't mind so much-"

He stopped talking. Everyone stopped. They were all listening to the most beautiful sound on the planet.

Ratchet let out a great sigh of relief. "Silence." He muttered gratefully. "He's finally stopped crying."

"And I think I know why." Jazz added, pointing over at the littlest sparkling's crib.

Optimus was standing over the smallest infant, staring at him with an almost confused expression on his face. Below him, the tiny sparkling stared back. Then he smiled and started giggling in delight as he reached up for the large mech to pick him up.

Aria was the only one who didn't understand what was happening. _"__But __then __what __else __is __new?__"_ She asked herself as she looked between her old friend and her new _di __di_.

"What's going on?" She asked Ariel softly where she stood nearby.

The rose colored femme managed to tear her eyes away with some difficulty. Bondings like this had always amazed her, however this one struck her as particularly important as well as strangely personal. "Optimus has just become little Bumblebee's guardian." Ariel told the girl.

"Oh," Aria said looking over at her oldest friend here and the little sparkling. Then she looked back at Ariel. "But what does that mean exactly?"

Ariel turned to give the little human her full attention. "It means that he will take care of him as he grows. I believe you would say he has 'adopted' him."

Optimus was too caught up in the little mech's glowing blue optics to pay any attention to the two femme's conversation or the other miscellaneous talk that had sprung up around him. It all sounded so distant to his auditory pathways. All he could hear or see was the yellow sparkling in his arms that was just as focused on his new caretaker as Optimus was on his new charge.

As lost in awe as he felt, it took the Autobot leader a cycle to notice the overly bright light of Bumblebee's spark where it shone through his yellow panels.

"Ratchet," Optimus said in his own tongue as he turned toward the head medic, carefully adjusted his hold on the yellow sparkling, "is he alright? He feels hot." The tall mech said, slightly worried.

Ratchet frowned slightly over at the smallest sparkling and from that look Optimus knew he didn't have good news. The chief medic stepped over and carefully inspected Bumblebee, who squirmed at the sudden interruption between him and his new guardian.

"Ratchet?" Optimus prodded when his friend didn't say anything.

Finally Ratchet sighed. "His spark's too big for his frame. He's creating too much energy and its putting a strain on him." He told Optimus.

The whole room was listening by this point. "Can't you just make a larger frame for him so he won't overheat himself?" Jazz asked from where he was still awkwardly holding the sparkling Ratchet had handed him. Oddly enough it was the only one still crying.

But the mechasurgeon shook his head. "There just aren't enough parts to go around. We did what we could to keep the proportions right, but no matter what we do he's still going to be too small for his spark."

Optimus looked down at the sparkling in his arms. Below him, Ariah was standing on her tiptoes on the counter so she could make faces at little Bumblebee. He was kicking and giggling just like any other infant Optimus had seen, appearing as healthy as the others except for his overly bright spark showing through his panels.

Eventually Optimus gathered up enough courage to look over at Ratchet again. It was strange, but he already loved the little sparkling more than anything. He had heard that that was how guardian bonds were, but even so he had never imagined he could feel so strongly about someone he had only known for a few kliks. "Can it kill him?" He asked quickly.

Ratchet was shocked into an answer. "Primus no," he said. The force of his words comforted Optimus somewhat and he felt himself relax slightly.

But then Ratchet kept talking. "At least, not directly anyway. His spark is so strong that his frame won't be able to keep up, leaving him open more to viral codes then the others. But otherwise he should be fine." Ratchet said, for the most part sounding sure of his words.

Optimus found only slight comfort in that.

Bumblebee's sudden movement brought his caretaker out of his gloomy thoughts. Optimus looked down at the now wiggling sparkling to see him reaching out his small hands towards Ariah, who seemed just as pleased by the attention as Bumblebee was with her.

Ariel laughed lightly as she stepped forward and gently picked Aria up and placed her on Optimus' broad shoulder where she was closer to the clicking sparkling. "You worry too much Ratchet. Just look at him. Bumblebee will be a strong, healthy sparkling. You'll see." She said as she smiled down at the bright yellow mech, her voice low and confident.

Her words did more to reassure Optimus than all of Ratchet's scans put together and he found himself smiling at the femme. But she was looking down at Bumblebee, letting him grab her finger to find out what it was, so she didn't notice.

But Jazz did. Optimus heard him snort with laughter behind his other shoulder. "Whatcha smiling at there O.P.?" He asked cheekily. "Looking to give Bumblebee a new sibling so soon?"

Thankfully Ariel was too busy with Bumblebee trying to stick her finger in his mouth to hear him, or to notice Optimus give Jazz a smart kick in the shin guards.

...

_There are seven sparklings in all. Valiturum (Don't ask), Fastlane, Cloudraker, Arcee, the twins Skids and Mudflap, and of course my _di di_, Bumblebee. Ratchet and the others keep wondering at how small they all are, especially 'Bee, but even he's about as tall as me even when he's all curled up so I wonder how big sparklings usually are. For the time being, Ratchet has them all sleeping in the med bay, even Arcee and Bumblebee who know their guardians already. I think he's terrified that something will happen to them the moment he lets them out of his sight, but eventually he's going to have to let them out. Well, I assume so anyway. I mean, this _is_ Ratchet after all. If anyone can stubbornly refuse to do something, it's him. But then again, I guess there's no one else that knows more about sparklings than he does too._

_ Anyway, Ratchet says that aside from their small size, all of the sparklings are doing very well and that they should be okay to leave the nursery in half of an orn, however long that is. Hopefully it's soon. I'm tired of asking permission to go and see Di Di_!

...

~_About six and a half days later~_

_ It turns out that's how long half an orn is. By now all of the sparklings have bonded with their guardians. Valiturum, the sturdiest of the sparklings, has bonded with this great, big, tough mech called Treads that used to live over in __Slaughter __City__. When I gave into my morbid curiosity and asked him what it was like he only said that it had earned its name._

_ O.O_

_ Of course then he went and laughed at me when I made that face and said that I was right to be afraid. "__Slaughter __City__ is no place for a soft little thing like you Sparkfinder. The mechs there would've thrown you into the pits just to see how you did against a swarm of drones and then where would you be?" He had asked rhetorically._

_ "Somewhere a mite better than here." I told him, smart mouth that I am._

_ Treads laughed so loud that I felt the ground under me shake slightly. Which of course set Val off laughing too, except it was much cuter when he did it. Treads went and picked up the strapping sparkling and I swear he's been holding him ever since. That kid won't learn to walk until he gets his last frame at this rate. n_n;_

_ Let's see who else was there…oh! Alpha Trion's friend arrived and the old mech was right, he did turn out to be the twins' guardian. Now let's see if I can describe him. Hmm…oh I know! Imagine an incredibly ticked off Ratchet, a terrifyingly happy Ironhide with fully charged cannons surrounded by incredibly stupid Decepticons (and to be fair I'll give them _partially_ charged weapons, well, wimpy weapons but that still counts right?) mix in some of Alexander's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and you'll come close to this guy's personality._

_ His name is Treehugger._

_ No I am not kidding._

_ As it turns out 'tree' here carries the connotation of 'die die you slaggin' moron' and a hugger is, well, I can't write that out just in case this ends up in the hands of any person under the age of twenty-one._

Anyway_, he's a tough old guy and if anyone can keep those two scoundrels out of trouble he can. Fortunately he does not live up to his name and aside from a sour personality, he's not that bad. Well, not _all_ that bad. Sort of._

_ But thankfully he'll be living…somewhere where I'm not. I don't know if I could bring myself to sleep with him around._

_ Oh no, you don't understand, he clanks all through recharge. It's kind of like snoring for humans except louder._

_ **Much louder.**_

_ Alright, uh, anyway, Optimus has Bumblebee, Chromia and Ariel found a new sister in Arcee (interesting note: apparently 'guardians' here carries a connotation somewhere between foster parent and older brother, or sister if you're Arcee…) So that just leaves Fastlane and Cloudraker. It was kind of funny; they were adopted by a couple of brothers, Smokerunner and Cloudcover respectfully, so now they're bonded brothers, like how Ariel and Chromia are bonded sisters. Both of their guardians are Seekers (which means they turn into something like jet planes instead of wheeled alt-forms like all the other Cybertronians I've met), like Fastlane and Cloudraker, which is why I guess they bonded in the first place. Smokerunner and Cloudcover are two of the scanty handful of Seekers that stayed with the Autobots and they're an interesting set of boys. Heads completely in the clouds. I would say pardon the pun only it isn't a pun at all. They literally like to be up there in the clouds all day long. Sometimes I think they only come down for fuel and even then Cloudcover's feet hardly ever touch the ground._

_ Oh, it looks like Hound is here for language lessons. He's so curious about Earth that it kind of took me by surprise at first. He just wants to know everything there possibly is. It's kind of cool actually. I've been asking all these questions about Cybertron so that I can learn about my friends (not to mention have some kind of clue about what's going on around me), and now someone wants to know about where __I__ came from. It's nice._

...

_So I was helping Preceptor spark-sit today, because honestly he needs all the help he can get. I mean it was total madness. Skids and Mudflap were throwing their usual ruckus, Val and Arcee were throwing blocks at each other, and Cloudraker and Fastlane were hovering around the room dropping things on the others, turning the rest of their arguments into a full blown war. It was an equal three on three with no end in sight by the time Bumblebee (who had been on the other side of the room sulking because he was mad at the rest of them for not including him in on the fun) suddenly yelled out all excited, "Blue!" in his squeaky little voice. None of them can really talk yet, just a handful of half learned names mixed in with their baby squeaking and clicking._

_ Sure enough I turned to see Bluestreak in the doorway, looking all gritty from sparring lessons with one of the older mechs. He smiled at us and said hi as he entered the room. He had come to pick up something for Ratchet. It turns out Bluestreak wasn't sparring like I had first thought. He had been helping Wheeljack with a new weapon design and, well, you can guess what happened. Bluestreak was in the other room searching for a tool for the inventor when the whatever-it-was blew up so he's alright, but Wheeljack apparently lost a limb or two in the explosion. *sigh* It's times like these that I feel really glad that Cybertronians are so sturdy. You can blow them up, leave them in puzzle pieces and still they'll be alright with a little work. As long as you haven't damaged their spark they can recover from practically anything._

...

_My lord these guys are just growing like weeds in spring! It feels like just yesterday I was helping Optimus and Ariel sparkling-proof what felt like half of Iacon before they were satisfied the sparklings wouldn't get into too much trouble and now 'Bee and the others are practically younglings; all walking and talking (and sometimes still screaming). Even Bumblebee, who's still the smallest, is big enough to pick me up with no problem. A fact he likes to remind me of almost every orbit. I'll be doing something and he'll just start giggling. "You're small Aria," he'll say when I ask him what's so funny._

_ I just roll my eyes and say, "Yeah? We'll you're yellow." And he'll just laugh more._

_ Right now though, he and Cloudraker are rough housing with Bluestreak. I haven't left Iacon since getting lost in the lava pits of Primahex (can you blame me?) and so far no one's exactly suggested the idea. Mainly I stay here and help whoever's turn it is to watch the sparklings. Ratchet says they're reaching that age where they'll be ready for lessons and he also says that if I want I can help with that too. I told him that sounds good with me. There are only so many things I can do to help now since learning their language is nearly impossible and their technology is way over my head, although that's easier than interpreting even the simplest of sentences like Ariel tries to teach me._

_ So yeah, mainly I look after Bumblebee and Arcee and the others. Sometimes even Bluestreak drops by, either talking with me or playing with the smaller kids._

_ Oh my gosh Bluestreak! He's so big now, nearly all grown up! He just got his final frame the other orn and I'm still not used to it. He's so…blue. I mean really, _really_ blue. I only learned this the other day, but his real name is Kickback. Even Ratchet didn't know. I guess Bluestreak just liked my name for him so much that he kept it from then on. Now with his new paintjob no one will ever forget either, like he's sealed the deal._

_ But big, and blue, as he is, I still can't help but think of him as the youngling that gave me a lift when I got lost near Primahex. It's hard to think that Bluestreak isn't all that little anymore. It makes me sad._

_ He's just an unbelievably sweet kid you know? Not to mention an incredibly fast talker, but it worries me how fast he took to fighting. I learned that same day I found out about his real name that Decepticons led by Starscream completely sacked Helix, where Bluestreak grew up, not long before I found him underground. It was a good sized city with a big populace and Bluestreak was the only survivor out of all of them._

_ I can only imagine what kind of scars that left on my poor mech, but when I see him learning everything he possibly can from the other Autobots about how to take down Decepticons, well, it makes me deeply sad. It's like he's so determined not to be forced into that vulnerable place again that he'll do anything to avoid it. Sometimes I can't help but think that there are demons chasing him and it makes me want to cry for him. It just isn't right. None of this is._

_ I have to go now. Bumblebee wants to play hide-and-seek and the others will only agree if I hide too. They think it's funny at all the little places I can get into._

...

_Oh my Lord in Heaven! You're just not going to believe this. Just will. Not. Believe it. I can barely believe it! It's just so mind blowing! So impossibly unexpected that you'll never guess what happened. Well go on, guess!_

_ CHROMIA AND IRONHIDE ARE __SPAR__KMATES!_

_ ! =0 !_

_ I know! I can't believe it either! It's just so…so…OH MY GOSH!_

_ And this time _I'm _not the only one who was in the dark (finally!) because nobody else knew about it either. Not until this morning when they both didn't show up for this meeting thing concerning supplies or something like that. Of course everyone thought it was kind of strange, but it _is _Chromia and Ironhide. Brilliant soldiers though they are, they're bots of action, not meetings, so none of the others thought it out of the norm if they were shuffling their feet trying to get there as late as they could._

_ But then they finished the meeting and they _still_ hadn't appeared._

_ Slightly worried now and thinking that maybe Decepticons had broken through Iacon's defenses or something similar, Optimus and the others went looking for the missing bots. Well, they searched all through the rest of the Hall of Records, the barracks, the firing range, even Ratchet's makeshift hospital, but still there was no sign of them._

_ Now everyone was getting kind of worried. I mean, they hadn't really expected to find them in the Hall of Records, but that's where Optimus holds most of his meetings so they looked anyway incase they were around, and they hadn't exactly thought that the two had just slept through their alarms, so the empty barracks weren't that odd either. When Prowl hadn't found them at the firing range, that struck us as slightly odd, and then Ratchet said they weren't with him either so it wasn't like one of those times where they had picked a friendly fight and went slightly overboard (which has happened before. Honestly it's like watching Skids and Mudflap fight, there's no malice in it, but in the end they still end up in the med bay with Ratchet yelling at them, "Again? Why can't you two behave for more than two cycles? You were in here just last orbit!")_

_ But still, there was no sign of either one._

_ Optimus and Prowl were more than suspicious at this point. Optimus was on the brink of giving out a city wide alert when Arcee suddenly ran in._

_ "Ariel! Ariel! I found Chromia!" My little _meimei _yelled in her cute, slurred English as she ran through the door, surprising everyone._

_ "Where she is little one?" Ariel had asked and I could see the relief on her face as she bent down to be closer to Arcee._

_ Then the little femme said, cute and naive as any child on Earth that has said the same thing, "She's wrestling with Ironhide." She pointed roughly where._

_ With a statement like that, how could I _not_ think what I thought? I wasn't sure if I should squeak in embarrassment or burst out laughing. Because I spend so much time with them, all of the kids, including Bluestreak, know English (and sign language because, let's face it, I am turning out to be an awesome teacher ;P) better than the adults. And with seven boys and a very tomboy girl, the word 'wrestling' has come up fairly often._

_ I just never realized it would translate _that_ well._

_ But then before I could get out so much as a strangled squawk, Prowl grumbled, "Good, now I can give them a piece of my processors for casting aside their duty," and professionally stormed out the door._

_I took off after him with a gasp, the others following me, probably wondering what I was so upset over._

_ I managed to keep up with Prowl pretty well until we came to the connection between Ratchet's med bay, where we had been trying to think of where else Chromia and Ironhide might be, and this little storage building that's almost always empty, probably because there are little enough supplies to go around._

_ Suddenly from around the corner we heard a loud shriek from Chromia quickly followed by Prowl's shout, which sounded pretty darn close to a horrified, "By all that Primus holds holy!" and then there was a loud crash._

_ I finally rounded the corner and let out a shriek of my own. Prowl had collapsed on the floor and for a split second I thought he had died instantly from the shock of seeing Chromia and Ironhide where they had fallen on the floor of the storage building. I was staring slack jawed between the three of them when Jazz, who was the quickest out of those behind me, skidded around the corner._

_ "Holy-!" He yelled when he realized what he was looking at._

_ Before the rest of them could so much as appear to gawk at them some more, Ironhide threw something at the door's controls and it snapped shut with a hiss. Even then I could still hear Chromia swearing in Cybertronian from the other side._

_ "Wow," Arcee whispered at my side from where she had seemingly appeared from nowhere, "Chromia sure knows lots of funny sounding words."_

_ I dumbly nodded. I didn't need to understand what the silver femme was saying to know it was no doubt…creative._

_ Somehow in my lingering stupor, the only thing I could think was that Sera would have gone gaga over this whole little episode. She used to really like those pre-teen soap operas that were on after school. If I had told her (the censored version of) this she would have gasped, hands flying over her little 'o' of a mouth, as her eyes grew as large as dinner plates. "No!" She would've said. "No way! It happened just like that?" She would've asked, enthralled by the exotic piece of gossip._

_ But I was shaken out of my bewilderment when Hound, who had been enlisted to help us find Ironhide, asked, "What happened to Prowl?"_

_ We all looked over and, sure enough, Prowl was still splayed out on the floor, his optics flickering spastically, like a light bulb about to burn out._

_ "It looks like his logic processors have stalled again." Jazz said with a somewhat sigh down at the Autobots' second in command._

_ Hound had looked over at Jazz in disbelief. "Again? This has happened before?"_

_ Jazz had shrugged, not meeting Hound's eyes. "I may have told him a joke once." He said trying to sound like it was no big deal. "He didn't get it."_

_ "Uh-huh," Hound muttered flatly._

_ Well, Ratchet, eh, 'rebooted' Prowl easily enough. By that time Ariel had gotten Chromia to open the door again, so that was one battle won, and Optimus had lectured them somewhat on time and place. He also expressed his congratulations._

_ Prowl, however, had something else to say. Maybe it was because he was miffed that they had gotten him to glitch in public, or maybe he was just being anal (because Prowl can be exceedingly anal at times) but he wrote up charges against the two for disrespect of duty or something like that, and had them both confined to the brig for a small amount of time._

_ Jazz suggested he put them in different wings. Otherwise they'd just end up macking through the bars. Or, whatever the Cybertronian equivalent of macking might be anyway. It's a disturbing mental image to say the least._

...

_ I have two siblings to worry over now._

_ Bumblebee is very sick. He was acting funny this morning and then before Treads, who was helping me watch the gaggle today, or I could think to tell Ratchet or Optimus, Bumblebee just crashed! And I don't mean like a sleepy child just lies down and goes to sleep, I mean his eyes went dim and he fell over and landed with a crunch on the floor!_

_ I screamed when I saw it and ran over to him. For a second I hoped that he had just glitched like Prowl does sometimes when he sees or hears something that refuses to compute in his head, but then I noticed that 'Bee sounded funny, like when a human kid has asthma and they rasp when they breathe, and he was incredibly hot to the touch._

_ Fortunately, Treads kept his head and commed Ratchet immediately. He, Wheeljack, and Optimus were down there in record time, although to me it felt like forever. Ratchet and Wheeljack were by 'Bee's side in seconds, but Optimus picked me up and stepped back to give them room. I was so worried for 'Bee that I didn't even notice when he lifted me off the floor. It was all I could do to sit there leaning against his fingers, arms crossed over my stomach as if they could hold in my anxiety. I think I was crying, but I wasn't paying enough attention to myself to really remember if I was. All I could see was 'Bee and how his usually bright, blue eyes were so dim that their light was almost gone._

_ When I just couldn't take the not knowing anymore I asked Ratchet what was wrong with him. He barely managed to look away from his instruments to give me a concerned glance. "I'm not sure yet," he answered slowly, the majority of his attention focused on Bumblebee, "but it appears that a string of unwanted code has gotten into his system."_

_ "A code can do all this?" Optimus said in surprise, making it sound like 'code' meant something like a 'cold'._

_ "If left untreated yes," Ratchet said as he removed a connection wire from on the small, boxy device in his hand and attached it to Bumblebee's yellow frame. "Has he been acting odd in the last few orbits?" He asked as he deciphered the data that appeared on he box._

_ Optimus answered him, but I zoned out of the conversation. A cold, I mean, a code could do all this?_

_ "What about the other younglings?" I finally ask. "Can they catch it?"_

_ Ratchet, Optimus, and Wheeljack shared a meaningful look that I did not miss but decided not to worry over at this point. Wheeljack's the one that tells me, in a very gentle voice, that the other younglings probably won't get it because Bumblebee's frame is too small compared to his spark. It can't keep up with all the energy he puts out and it wears down his frame and leaves him more open to illnesses than the others. Then he tells me that because of his large spark Bumblebee will probably get sick very easily, although hopefully not like this very often._

_ I nod vaguely and try to soak this in as Ratchet says he's given 'Bee something that should take care of this code. Optimus hands me to Wheeljack so he can pick up Bumblebee. I don't argue as Wheeljack follows Optimus towards the room where 'Bee sleeps._

_ Wheeljack talks at me as he walks and even though I can't tear my attention away from the splash of yellow I see over Optimus' shoulder to listen to him, I can still hear the concern in the inventor's voice as he tries to make me feel better._

_ Ariel arrived shortly after Optimus put Bumblebee in his bed. They're still out there now, alternating between talking softly and silently leaning on each other. From my spot near 'Bee's head I can just see through a crack in the door that Optimus has rested his head on Ariel's shoulder as they hold each other._

_ I would feel happier at this development if it hadn't happened because Bumblebee passed out._

_ I've decided to sleep in here with him tonight, just incase he needs something. I've done it before, although those were usually like sleepovers instead of sick watch. I overheard Ariel say that Chromia and Treads are with the other younglings so I'm not worried about them._

_ I know I should be mad that they didn't tell me about Bumblebee's spark earlier, but I'm too worried over 'Bee to put any effort into it._

...

'_Bee is better this morning, although he's still feels feverish to me. His eyes are brighter, although still not as bright as the other day before all this happened. I still can't believe that no one caught on that he was sick before he crashed yesterday. How could I miss something like that?_

_ Ratchet came by as soon as Optimus told him little 'Bee was awake. The cranky old mech actually smiled when he saw Bumblebee sitting up in bed so I knew he was better. Ratchet checked anyway but in the end said that 'Bee was out of the most dangerous part of the illness and that he should be completely well in an orbit or two. I cannot tell you how relieved I felt when I heard that. It was like I had been holding my breath since yesterday and hadn't breathed until now. Easily irritated though he is, penchant for throwing things he may have, but Ratchet is never wrong. Not that I've heard anyway._

_ Bumblebee for his part is actually very excited at all the visitors he's gotten today. Let's see, after Ratchet there was Treads with Val in tow, who brought Bumblebee his favorite toy he had left in the safe room the younglings play in. Then there was Jazz, then Hound, followed by Prowl, Bluestreak, and a mech called Windcharger. Then Wheeljack stopped by and gave 'Bee the first invention he had ever made. It was a toy he had made for himself but obviously didn't use anymore. He demonstrated it for him and then had to go find Ratchet when the simple catapult left a crack in his right optic._

_ Optimus said he put that toy somewhere 'safe'._

_ Ratchet came by again later, Skids and Mudflap with him because Treehugger was out on sentry rounds around Iacon to make sure there aren't any Decepticons trying to sneak through. The medic's earlier good mood had vanished with the twin terrors bouncing at his heels, although he got the chance to calm down a little when they went over to ask Bumblebee all those questions any kid, no matter what species, likes to ask when their cohort is sick. You know, "Are you feeling better?" "Did they have to operate?" "Can we see your scar?" Never mind if there actually is a scar or not._

_ The femmes came by later in the afternoon, Firestar and Moonracer and them, with Inferno tagging along behind them. The ladies all cooed and said what a brave little mech Bumblebee was and how good it was to see him acting like his old self again. I whole heartedly agreed._

_ Inferno made the mistake of saying that they were coddling the youngling too much. Firestar practically, and almost literally, kicked him out the door saying how sparkless could he be not to have sympathy for a sick youngling. Moonracer and I got to talk for awhile while the two of them argued out in the hall._

_ That didn't stop until Ariel, Chromia, and Ironhide came by with Arcee an hour or so later. Well, actually I don't know if Firestar and Inferno stopped their little lover's spat or just took it somewhere else since they left soon after. Now, finally, there was some quiet time as Arcee and 'Bee played with Wheeljack's catapult (which Chromia had re-found with the exclamation, "What in the Pit is this?"), while us femmes talked. We talked about a lot of different things, like how Chromia was now that she and Ironhide were actually living in close quarters and how Arcee had gotten in a fight with Val over something silly and actually pinned him down in the end. She had gotten in trouble of course, but still, it was impressive, especially considering that Val is well over twice her size._

_ It was quite relaxing, just us girls. It was almost like being home again with my friends when we had hung out at the mall's food court, drinking dollar sodas from McDonalds as we talked about boys and how we thought we did on the latest math test._

_ At least, that's what we did until Optimus appeared. Then the rest of us femmes talked about Ariel and Optimus while they two of them had their own little conversation in the other room. Now that _really _reminded me of home._

_ Guess what our main topic was. ;3_

...

_It's been about two orns since 'Bee got sick and he's doing much, much better. Like Ratchet said, he was completely well in the next few orbits, but I've only now begun to relax. It was like every time I turned around to see he was out of my sight I was afraid that something horrible would happen to my _di di_, like he would crash again or something even worse would happen to him when I wasn't around. I guess I got kind of clingy because Bumblebee finally said, "Aria! You are smothering me!"_

_ I'm not even sure where he learned the word smothering._

_ Anyway, I'm starting to relax, which is a relief for everyone involved, especially me since I was starting to feel like I was pulling a two ton weight between my shoulder blades. I mean, I still worry, but Ironhide is right; I can't keep going around afraid that something bad will happen all the time. Apparently it'll cause early rusting…_

_ "But speaking of worry…"_ Aria thought from where she was writing in her little book on the counter of the safe room where the younglings usually played under someone's protective eye. She could see them tussling from where she sat, sometimes throwing out sparks as they scraped against each other. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were especially going at it, enjoying their wrestling match to the accompaniment of the scrape of metal against metal and the hot orange-yellow sparks they caused. They were all so big now – younglings Ratchet had told her rather than sparklings – and while Aria loved each of them even more than the first day she had seen them online in the makeshift nursery, their growth brought up other problems in her mind.

_For the first time, I'm afraid to find out how long I've been here. If sparklings age anything like human children, then it's got to have been years._

Aria's hand froze above the last period as she stared in horror at what she had just written. She had written it without thinking. It just couldn't be true. Could it? It didn't feel like years. And then whenever Aria caught sight of her reflection in some shiny metal surface or another, she never looked any older. Maybe a little different in the brightly colored metal fabrics she had made into clothes to replace her old t-shirt and jeans, her hair a little longer, her face a little thinner from surviving on Wheeljack's nutrition experiments but still, she didn't think she looked any closer to nineteen than she was to fifty.

Bumblebee's innocent giggle made her look up from the simple string of words that were threatening to make her glitch harder than Prowl. She looked up, smiling automatically when she caught sight of the small yellow mech. He and Bluestreak had called a truce as Optimus appeared in the doorway.

"Time for recharge my little mech." He said as Bumblebee ran up to greet him. With a laugh Optimus leaned down and picked up his youngling, carefully throwing him up in the air before he caught him and settled him against his side. "That means you too Bumblebee."

Bluestreak rolled his eyes at his fearless leader. "Ha, ha." He laughed dryly as he made his way towards the door. "Very funny, but then again if that's an order-" the young mech said trying to get past Optimus still standing in the doorway.

"Nice try," the larger mech said, stopping Bluestreak, "but Prowl told me you have evening shift tonight. Better get to it before he realizes you're late."

Bluestreak made a face at the time and hurried off down the hall, but not before shouting out a quick goodnight to everyone.

"Now," Optimus said once Bluestreak was gone, "how about you Bumblebee? Are you ready for recharge?"

Bumblebee shook his head 'no' of course, but he was tired and he knew Optimus and Aria could tell, so he decided not to put up too much of a fight this time.

Instead he leaned his head on his guardian's shoulder and looked over at Aria still sitting on the counter. All the other younglings had left awhile ago, their guardians already come and gone.

"Aren't you coming Aria?" He asked, his young voice tired.

Aria nodded, her smile feeling slightly fake on her face. "I'll be there in a minute. I'm almost done." She told him.

Bumblebee nodded, missing the downward slant to her smile. But Optimus knew better.

"Are you alright Ariah?" He asked, his voice concerned.

Aria nodded, her smile going a bit truer as she thought how funny it was that even though he was the one that had known her longest, Optimus still couldn't say her name right.

"Yes, fine. I just want to finish my writing, that's all."

She could tell Optimus didn't quite believe her, but she also saw he wouldn't press her about it. Not right now anyways.

"Alright, goodnight then." He told her before turning and taking Bumblebee off to bed.

Aria waited until she couldn't hear his footsteps down the hallway anymore. Then she numbly turned back to her paper.

_ Oh God Sera, I hope you can forgive me._

Then she got up from the countertop and slid down the toy slide the younglings used for their alt-mode playthings. _"__Alien __hot __wheels,__"_ Aria thought as she quickly followed Optimus and Bumblebee's path down the hall. She didn't even bother to close her notebook before she left.

She didn't feel much like writing anymore.


	19. Chapter 19: Welcome, Dreaded News

Alrighty then, I have nothing else to do today and a piece of pumpkin pie with my name on it is just sitting next to me taunting me so let's see how brief I can make this top note.

Let's see, first things first, **_THANK YOU!_** to everyone that reviewed! XD It was so amazing! And if I haven't replied to you yet, I plan on it, but at the moment I'm feeling pretty darn lazy, so we'll see how much I can motivate myself this evening. Pie, remember?

And you guys are just all so sweet wanting to read the next one already. ^-^ Although I am _terrified_ that I jinxed myself in saying anything about it. But it's going alright, so that's a good sign.

Ummm...I think that's about it. Whew, today has made me tired so I'm only going to say one more thing-

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (or Turkey Day, whichever you prefer ;) ^,,^ Mrs. Mittens is eyeing the turkey already. Uh-oh...)

...

I Lost A World!

19 – Welcome, Dreaded News – 19

At first Aria wasn't sure what woke her later that night.

"I mean early in th'morning," she mentally slurred as she checked the clock Prowl had given her in a not so subtle attempt to help heal her chronic lateness. It had had slightly mixed results so far.

Her subconscious was putting up a very convincing argument for her to just go back to sleep, but as her head started to sink back onto the soft pillow she heard a sharp crash from the hallway.

Her head snapped up as her sleep numbed brain tried to race into full overdrive mode. The result was that she fell out of her cot-like bed with a thump onto the floor, her legs entangled in the blankets like a fish in a net.

A sleepy whir, like someone sighing in their sleep, reminded Aria that she was not the only person in the dark room. Aria lifted her head and blinked through the dark of the room to see Bumblebee's recharging form in his bed that was far too long for him that sat against the far wall. He was still sleeping, but if this absurd yelling didn't end soon that wouldn't last for long.

Suddenly feeling very angry, Aria wearily stormed out of the ground level cabinet that served as her room. She hopped down to the ground from the bottom of her cupboard and, after seeing that the door between Bumblebee and Optimus' sleeping quarters was cracked open like it usually was, stomped through the sliver of light that was coming through from Optimus' room, ready to give whoever was making this racket at this miserable hour a piece of her process-er, mind.

She slowed in mild surprise when she saw that Optimus' door was already open, letting more light from the hallway shine in to show that his bed was empty. Wondering now if maybe he was already dealing with the loud insomniac, Aria slowed her pace as she went to the open door and peered out into the well-lit corridor.

Aria blinked against the light that was too bright after the dimness of 'Bee's room. At first she didn't see anyone in the metal corridor, and then she realized that the noise was coming from around the next corner to her right. Sleepily, and more than slightly irritated, Aria stumbled over to the corner, wondering what all the fuss was about.

She stopped with a slight gasp as she rounded the sharp turn and found the brawl that was causing all the noise in the main hallway that ran through the building. The fighters were moving and twisting so much that at first all Aria could make out was a heap of crashing, snarling metal as the combatants swore as they grappled with each other. It took Ironhide and Prowl shouting for her to recognize them in the romp. Optimus was easier to see since he was behind the mass of twisting metal, holding the violently moving mech Aria didn't know from behind so that the other two could try and pin him down.

For a frightening moment, Aria watched from around the corner as the three mechs she knew struggled to hold the one she didn't recognize. The fact that she didn't recognize him didn't strike her as too strange since there were lots of mechs in Iacon, although even so, the city still wasn't even half as full as it had been before the war started.

But when the strange, gold painted mech looked up and saw her from where Prowl had wrestled him towards the floor, Aria gasped in sudden fright.

He glared at her the moment his eyes fixed on her small form. Then he abruptly rushed towards her, nearly breaking away from Prowl and Ironhide's strong grips.

Aria shrieked at the following crash as one of the mechs fumbled the stranger's feet and sent him heavily to the floor. The gold bot was screaming at her now, eyes never leaving her as he yelled in abrasive, ear piercing Cybertronian.

She couldn't tell exactly what he said, but it frightened her all the same and she took a step away, still too stunned to turn and run back to the relative safety of her cupboard. Instead she stood there, transfixed by the burning blue eyes, her hands shaking slightly near her mouth.

Optimus' eye's narrowed at the look of sheer terror on the small girl's face and, with a growl that sounded like a racecar driver gunning his engine, he spun the unknown mech around and slammed him against the wall.

"What in the Pit are you doing Sunstreaker?" He yelled at the gold painted mech that was still struggling violently against his firm hold. Roughly two orbits ago, Sunstreaker's six mech team, led by Hound, had been captured by Decepticons during a routine security trip along the conduit that powered most of Iacon. There had been little hope for their escape, but then just a cycle ago Sunstreaker had come back, nearly appearing out of nowhere, screaming with all of his considerable might. He had run through half the base, ignoring Prowl and Ironhide yelling at him to stop and explain himself, and had just started banging on Optimus' door before anyone could even try and figure out what was going on.

"Murderer! Slaggin' spy! Fraggin' organic bi-" Sunstreaker yelled at the organic femme standing just around the corner, completely ignoring the mechs holding him back.

But then he was distracted by Ironhide, who was at least a head and a half shorter than the other mech, yanking the taller bot down to his optic level.

"You have a nanoklik to start explaining yourself or," he pulled the scowling mech down another inch or so, "the organic will be the least of your problems."

Sunstreaker shot Aria another withering glare that made her shiver farther away from the corner, but with a rough shake from Ironhide, he looked back down at the mech in black armor.

But still he didn't speak until Optimus asked in a strong, insistent voice, "Sunstreaker, what happened?"

There was a moment of stillness and Aria, from around the limited safety of her corner, tensed, thinking that the gold mech would start fighting again, slip the hold the others had on him and come after her, although she had no idea what for.

But then Sunstreaker vented a harsh, angry hiss and slumped slightly against the wall behind him, although Optimus noted the faint tension that still hummed through his frame.

"We met up with Decepticons about a decacycle out of the city," Sunstreaker muttered harshly as he stared at the floor, the events playing out again before his optics, "we fought but were quickly outgunned," he admitted bitterly. Optimus noticed the way the gold painted mech's hands balled into fists as he remembered the fight. "They offlined me so I don't remember what happened in between, but when I came too we were in some kind of underground room; no light, dank, dark, that kind of thing. I remember something dripping on the other side of the room and it was driving me nuts."

The mech fell silent and the others let him, ignoring his brief distraction, knowing how it felt to have something like that playing incessantly in your processor.

But eventually Sunstreaker drew himself out of his memories. "We were in some kind of cages. Sideswipe's was next to mine and I could see Hot Rod and Cliffjumper farther down, but the others were gone. Not long after I came to, Megatron appeared with Soundwave and that idiot Starscream. He gloated for awhile before that mad scientist of his came in."

"Shockwave." Optimus said gravely.

Sunstreaker nodded, his mind going back to that bleak place. "Yeah, a few cycles later Megatron left us with him, but not before I saw that thing standing behind him." He suddenly spit, turning to glare over at Aria again, who remained behind the corner of the T-section.

"Never mind her," Ironhide hissed again, giving Sunstreaker a little shake to get his attention. "How'd you get out?"

A brief wave of guilt overtook the vain mech, but it was quickly swamped by his usual anger. "I was watching Starscream so I don't know how it happened, but somehow Sideswipe got his guns back online. He got a distraction going by giving Starscream a handful of new scars. Then one of his shots went wide and he hit the control board that powered the cage and door locks. Always was the lucky one. Evened out his penchent for getting himself into trouble," Sunstreaker said with what might have been a smile on any other living being.

"Like you're one to talk," Prowl muttered, never taking his optics off of the other mech.

Sunstreaker glowered at the black and white officer before continuing. "With the power down I was able to bust out of my cage. Starscream tried to stop me, but Sideswipe pinned him down." The mech deflated another inch. "But I still wasn't fast enough to get to him in time to get him out. Still can't feel my hand either from going through the electric containment field on the main door." He admitted, experimentally trying to flex his right hand. It barely twitched. "But I can't see how that matters when you've got a Decepitcon pet living here!" He started shouting again.

Ironhide's optic ridges went up at Sunstreaker's admission. "You mean you left him there?" He asked, not meaning to sound accusatory.

Sunstreaker nodded. The guilt lingered longer this time.

"But that doesn't make any sense." Prowl muttered as he looked between Aria and Sunstreaker, who was glaring again of course.

"I saw her." Sunstreaker hissed through is vents. "She was just standing there, following him all meek-like, like some sort of pet. Never even spoke when Megatron handed her off to that slaggin' Shockwave too, as if she was nothing but a test tube. Just shivered once and went right over to this stasis cube so they could freeze her."

Optimus thought about this. "And this organic looked just like her?" He asked, pointing over at Aria. Or what they could see of her anyway. Most of her frame was still out of sight behind the corner, but from where they stood, Sunstreaker could see her face clearly enough, with her wide blue optics and pink mouth framed by waves of strange brown strands of spare proteins.

"Yes," Sunstreaker said, but even Aria could hear the smudge of uncertainty that had entered his voice, even if she wasn't sure what he was going on about.

"Are you sure?" Prowl asked, mainly to get the other mech to say 'no' just for the record.

Sunstreaker's frown deepened. "Let me see her arm."

Prowl looked between Sunstreaker, who was still glaring at the little creature behind the corner even if he wasn't actively struggling towards her, and Optimus, who nodded after a minute moment of hesitation.

With a nod of his own, Prowl turned and motioned for Aria to come closer.

"Are you nuts?" Aria demanded, her voice a nervous squeak.

Prowl tilted his head slightly at her odd question. "I hardly see what parts have to do with this, femme Aria. Now will you please come closer so Sunstreaker can see what you look like?"

"Why?" She demanded immediately. She sounded a bit childish maybe, but then she knew Prowl already thought of her as little more than an organic youngling so she didn't feel so bad giving into the assumption. That and she didn't want to get any closer to the glaring mech.

Prowl gave an exasperated sigh, but Ironhide cut off the growing argument he and Optimus felt coming on. "To clear up a case of mistaken identity, now just get over here so I can get back to recharge." He came close to shouting. He had just gotten off his shift when this whole mess started and he hadn't gotten a lick of rest in what felt like orbits. He wanted **to_ sleep_**.

With a look full of mistrust at the now still Sunstreaker, Aria slowly came out from behind the wall she had been peering around and stepped closer to the four mechs. She stopped a good five yards away from them though. Then at Prowl's request, she held out her arms and turned them over so that the white skin of her forearms was illuminated by the bright overhead lights.

Sunstreaker swore softly into the late lunar cycle silence as most of his angry tension just slid right out of his frame. "It's not her." He muttered sourly.

Seeing that he wasn't about to rush the fragile and much smaller Ariah again, Optimus experimentally loosened his grip on Sunstreaker. Then when the other mech didn't move, he stepped back, Ironhide following his example.

"But I still saw one," Sunstreaker insisted, determined not to be wrong and somehow lose face (although it would only be in his own mind), "it was small and skinny and it was definitely following Megatron around like a lost cyber-hound. It had blue optics and the same shaped face just like that one, only it had a cut running down the length of its arm and its follicles had more yellow in them and it might have been smaller." He admitted grudgingly, only now seeing the physical differences between the organic he had seen in Shockwave's lab and the one standing warily in front of him, watching him with the same carefulness of a turbo-fox watching a hunting hound.

Pieces Optimus had already sensed now clicked together with a sad finality. "I believe you Sunstreaker. And," he said with a sad look over at Ariah, "I think I know who the other organic is."

The other mechs were looking at him now, obviously waiting for an explanation.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Optimus told the other three about Sera, knowing he was only putting off the inevitable of telling Ariah the bad news of where her sister was.

"You mean there's another one of these funny lil' things running around?" Ironhide demanded incredulously, pointing a broad finger over at Aria's small, staring frame.

"A sister?" Prowl asked instead, optics narrowing in thought. "Why weren't we told of this?"

Optimus vented a sigh as he rubbed at his temple where he felt a headache coming on. "Probably for the same reasons most of us don't talk about what family we had before the war broke out." He replied, sounding tired.

That silenced the others. Sunstreaker especially was quiet as Optimus walked over to where the organic still stood, unsure of what was going on. Carefully he knelt to be closer to her face before he broke the news to her as gently as he could.

Aria listened in stunned amazement as Optimus shared what he had just learned. It didn't take much time and after a long moment she realized he was still staring at her, watching her reaction to the news she had waited so long to hear.

"You've," she finally heard herself stammer, "you've found her?"

Optimus nodded slowly.

Aria distantly felt herself smile weakly as all the blood suddenly rushed to her head. She couldn't help it. It was all too much. She couldn't take in the sudden news without her brain overloading.

For the first time since Aria had arrived on Cybertron, since she had met and befriended alien robots and become embroiled in their war millions upon millions of light years from her home, Aria closed her eyes and fainted clean away.

...

Aria wasn't sure how long she lay wrapped in the dark. At first it had frightened her as she wondered where she was and what had happened and how she had gotten here. But then she realized how nice it was just to lay there in the velvet darkness. It was so soothing after so many days of worry and strife and bad news.

A small pin pricked at Aria's brain at that thought as memory tried to surface. Something about news, bad news that had frightened and thrilled her at the same time…

"Aria? Aria!"

At first the squeaky, concerned voice sounded small and very far away. But the more it called, the louder it got until eventually Aria recognized the voice of her _di di_.

"'Bee?" Aria asked, her voice muffled by the soft blanket of darkness, "I'm right here 'Bee. What's wrong?"

But Bumblebee must not have heard her because she heard him say, "Oh please wake up Aria!"

Before she could tell him that she was right here, Optimus' voice cut through the black. "Calm down Bumblebee. Ratchet said that Ariah will be fine. She is just sleeping."

But 'Bee wasn't convinced. "Then why won't she wake up?" He asked, his voice threading out in an electronic version of crying.

A dot of gray light appeared in the darkness and Aria made her way towards it, eager to show 'Bee she was just fine even if it meant leaving this soothing sanctuary where she couldn't remember anything of importance and was glad of it.

A new voice appeared as Aria fought her way towards wakefulness.

"Now don't cry Bumblebee, Optimus is right. She's going to be just fine. Look, I think she might be waking up already."

Wheeljack was right. He had barely spoken the words when Aria scrambled through the growing light and slowly blinked open her eyes. She quickly closed them again when she saw the blinding light of the med bay hanging over her.

"See?" Wheeljack said triumphantly.

Aria just groaned.

"Jie Mei!" Bumblebee yelled as he pulled himself up over the edge of the tall hospital bed as far as he could. "You're alright!"

Ratchet must have heard the yellow youngling, because he appeared on the other side of the bed, materializing so fast that Aria felt her head spin a little.

"Nice to see you online again," he said, sounding relieved, "now would you mind telling me what happened?" He demanded, his usual cantankerous attitude reappearing.

Aria couldn't help but smile up at him. "It's nice to see you too Ratchet." She murmured. Then with a held in breath and a groan, she managed to curl up into a sitting position on the bed.

"Well?" Ratchet pressed when she was up. Aria was somewhat surprised he hadn't started tapping his foot at her already.

Aria frowned slightly in confusion as she thought about what had happened before she had woken up here. It didn't take her very long.

_"Ariah, I have just heard news of your sister. She is being held by Megatron."_

She swallowed as she remembered Optimus' careful words from before. But an irritated fidget reminded her that Ratchet was still waiting for an answer.

"I," she tried to think of an appropriate comparison for fainting, "I think I glitched."

Off to her right someone snickered. She looked over to see Jazz standing there along with Prowl, who was not nearly as amused as the smaller mech was.

"It's not funny." Prowl muttered tightly to Jazz.

Jazz sniggered to himself again. "Oh come on, it's kind of funny."

Aria was sure that if Prowl hadn't been so bent on protocol and order he would have reached up and smacked Jazz upside the head like the straight man in a comedy duo.

"Glitched?" Ratchet said in surprise. "Do you have a faulty connection somewhere?" He asked, scanning her quickly to check on the state of her internal systems.

Aria didn't object since she already knew what had happened. "No, I'm alright Ratchet. I was just…overwhelmed by something." She told him softly.

The medic paused, peering at her with narrowed optics that hid most of his generous concern for her. Then he turned to the others standing around in the room. "Give us a cycle." He told them in a normal voice.

"But-" Prowl tried to argue.

"Out!" Ratchet shouted, making almost everyone jump.

"Come on 'Bee," Optimus said gently as he lifted the youngling off the stark metal bed frame, "let's let Ariah rest."

The youngling's wide blue optics made Aria feel bad about Ratchet kicking everyone out, but at the same time she did want a space of quiet. So instead she smiled at Bumblebee. "I'll see you in a little bit okay 'Bee?" She said as reassuringly as she could still manage.

Bumblebee nodded slowly. "Alright," he said, his little voice subdued.

Aria made sure to smile until 'Bee had left, Optimus closing the door behind them. Then the expression evaporated from her face, leaving her looking tired and gaunt.

Without a word, Ratchet grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it closer to Aria's bedside. Then he sat and settled his arms across his broad frame and waited.

"So," he finally said, his voice calm and reassuring, when Aria didn't speak, "what happened?"

Aria swallowed hard, feeling tears pricking behind her eyes as she stared down at the human sized blanket someone had covered her with.

Finally she managed to look up at the large, emergency-yellow mech, although the contact was brief. "Did you hear that Sunstreaker made it back from that group that was taken by Decepticons?" She asked, her voice small.

Ratchet nodded once. "Yes, I have him in the next aisle. Hoist is looking after him now."

Aria didn't move. "Did you know he saw a creature that looked just like me when he was captured and handed over to Shockwave?"

Ratchet froze in his chair. Then, slowly, he managed to relax enough to answer, "No, I hadn't."

Aria nodded. From where he sat, Ratchet could make out the drops of wetness as they started falling from Aria's optics.

"All this time," she finally said through her constricted throat muscles, "all this time she's been here and she's been trapped with _them_." She sobbed, the wetness falling faster down her face.

Ratchet didn't speak. He didn't want to admit to his organic friend, but he had suspected as much when the orbits had passed and nothing was ever heard about another organic creature. The only other possibility he had thought likely was that the little creature had been extinguished, and he had wanted to tell Aria that even less.

Aria cried for what felt like forever to her grieving mind, but Ratchet knew it was only a cycle or two.

Eventually he vented a heavy sigh and leaned forward. "Aria, this is not your fault." He told her, keeping his voice soft.

She sniffed and sobbed another moment. "H-how c-c-an you s-say that?" She managed to say through her crying. "I-I'm her o-oh-older sister. I'm supposed to-o look a-after her. I sh-should've found her before they did!" She hiccupped, refusing to lift her face from her hands.

Ratchet listened. "How?" He asked sensibly when she had paused to breathe spastically, her shoulders shaking. "For all you know Megatron found your sister before Optimus even found you. There might not have been anything you could have done to prevent this." He told her softly.

A loud sob broke through Aria's chest that shook her with its force. She curled tighter in on herself, leaning her head down into her lap, still refusing to uncover her face.

Ratchet vented another sigh as he rubbed at his head. It was true. He knew it was true. And at the moment truth was the only comfort he could see to give.

He gave her another moment to try and control her sobs before asking as gently as he could, "So, what are you going to do?"

Aria sniffed and sobbed a moment more. "Wa-what do you mean?" She eventually found enough voice to ask.

"Well," Ratchet said as he watched the organic femme with perceptive optics, "are you just going to sit here leaking or are you going to do something to rescue her?" He asked, perfectly serious.

Aria finally looked over at the medic in surprise. "But what can I do? I'm not even the size of most minicons. How in the world can I go up against Megatron? I mean, you and Optimus are the only ones I've ever heard of that can even stand against him in a fight and I'm nothing compared to either of you." She said, showing a severe lack of self esteem that Ratchet hadn't even suspected.

The chief medical officer sighed and slowly blinked in thought. "You think too little of yourself Aria. Now, you are small, there's no getting over that, but you've survived battles just like the rest of us. You've gone against mechs more than twice your size and still come back. You've found mechs and femmes buried in gigatons of rubble without getting anything worse than a scratch on your frame and gotten out to get them help. You were even tossed into a lava river and survived to find seven sparks," he said as if the fact still continued to amaze him, "which is more then most mechs here can claim. And to top it all off, you are exceedingly clever." "_Not to mention stubbornly persistent,"_ he added to himself.

Aria was looking at him now with an expression that Ratchet wasn't sure meant she was trying to decide if she should believe him, or if she just thought he was malfunctioning in his processors.

"But," she tried again, "but that isn't the same. That stuff…just happened." She protested.

Ratchet nodded. "Yes and it happened to you. Now I may not be as wise as Alpha Trion or know what's written in that strange codex of his, but I am smart enough to know that you are exceedingly brave, sometimes a bit dense in the brain pan," he admitted with a small smile to show that he meant it kindly, "but brave all the same and just as protective and loving as any femme I've ever met. You would never let anything happen to your family if you could help it."

He gave her a minute to absorb this before he continued.

"So," he said once Aria started to look more like her normal self, "I'll ask you again; what are you going to do?"

There was a moment of silence as Ratchet watched her come to the decision he had always known she'd make. And when she looked up again, he saw that while her optics were still wet, there was a fire burning in them that would quickly dry her out.

"I'm going to get my sister back," she said, voice steady and firm, "even if I have to kick Megatron's aft to do it."

Ratchet felt his faceplates shift into a proud smile. "That's what I thought." He said. Then he stood. "Now, Hoist should be done with Sunstreaker by now, so the vain mech should be making his way down to the main level. Optimus is leading a small team to try and rescue the other mechs that were captured with Sunstreaker. If you're going with them you'd better hurry." He told her as he picked something up from the table behind him. "And you'll probably want these."

He turned back around and held out the specially made weapons Wheeljack had designed for her. It had taken him some time, but eventually the inventor had worked out the kinks. Well, most of them anyway.

Slowly, Aria reached out and picked up the modified electronic rope and grapple (with emergency release now included) Wheeljack had re-made for her. She clipped it to her belt before picking up the easier to use pistol he had presented to her later. Wheeljack had put the weapon's penchant for exploding to better use through the self destruct button on top of the muzzle where it was less likely to be touched accidentally, so that was one problem solved.

Pistol in hand, Aria looked up at the medic. "Thanks Ratchet." She murmured.

Ratchet grinned sideways at her. "Just try to come back in one piece. I'm going to have enough trouble with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe without needing to try and put you back together." He said, partially kidding. The twins were always in his med bay it seemed, even when they weren't on duty.

Aria nodded, giving him a grim little smile of her own. "Alright. I'll see you when we get back." She promised.

Ratchet nodded once. "Good, now hurry up or they'll leave you behind."

He helped her to the floor and she took off, running towards the main floor.

Ratchet watched her go, his acute sensors detecting her footsteps until they disappeared onto the elevator down the hall.

The medic sighed again, suddenly feeling very old. "Primus protect her. Just bring her back." He murmured before turning back to his work of preparing the med bay for their return. "Bring them all back."


	20. Chapter 20: Do You Want to Tell Her No?

Yes, yes, you may all gloat now. n_n; Most of you guessed right; Sera did get picked up by 'Cons. But you still don't know the half of it so we're not through yet!

Oh! And I was looking at the calendar and realized that if I want to meet my goal of finishing a story by the end of the year (because I highly doubt that I will ever get this chance again) then I'll have to start posting two chapters a week! (^o.O^ Mrs. Mittens thinks I need better planning skills, but oh well! ;P) And guess what? That starts...Now! Hooray! So I'm thinking...Saturdays. Yeah, Saturdays sound nice. Maybe Fridays. Hmmm...ya know what? Watch your inboxes, add story alerts, or you can just watch the TF list on FF . net (woo, that's a lot of letters...) or whatever they're called where they list the updated stories. n_n; Ya know, whatever propels your rocket ship. (hee hee) However the Tuesday updates will remain the same.

_And_, you guys are so awesome that we have now reached another amazing milestone! Last week reviews totaled over _200_! XD *falls down in gleefully glorious screaming fits!* I just have no idea how to express my amazement and generous joy except through EXTREME HAPPY DANCING! Oh yeah! Go us!

^n.n;^ *don't let the sweat drop fool you; Mrs. Mittens is ecstatic too!* We just _luv_ you all! Because you are amaaa~zing! ;D _Thankyouthankyouthankyou!_

Right, so, eh, on the not so dancy-side of things, I don't know how pleased I am with this chapter sooo, someone out there _please_ tell me how it came out. This and the next one gave me a hard time so any first hand impressions will be accepted. Was it Good? Useful? Filler-ish? I can't tell anymore. I've been looking at it too long...

Hope you like it at least a _little _bit! And see ya Tuesday.

...

I Lost A World!

20 – Do _You_ Want to Tell Her No? – 20

Aria was out of breath by the time she made it to the main level of the Hall of Records. Understandable, seeing as she had practically flown through the maze of hallways and interlocking bridges that connected the different buildings of Iacon together. But even though her lungs were burning fiercely, she somehow made it to the main hall.

She could see the towering frames of her friends on the other side, near the door. "W-wait!" She yelled waving at them frantically, afraid they would leave without even seeing her, "wait a minute!"

Of course they heard her, however Optimus still felt slightly surprised to see her up and running about so soon. He had thought that Ratchet would have wanted to keep an optic on her, at least for a little while, but unless Ariah had escaped his observation (which seemed highly doubtful since there was very little that the CMO did not miss) then Ratchet must have cleared her to leave his hospital.

When the little organic was close enough, the great red and blue mech knelt so he could speak with her easier.

"What is it Ariah?" He asked when she had stopped a few feet from his head. "Is something the matter?"

She was still slightly winded from her dash across the alien sized complex and it took her a moment a regain enough breath to answer him coherently.

"I," she drew in one last gasp before her heart rate settled into a smooth enough rhythm that she didn't feel like it was about to beat out of her throat. "I'm going with you." She told him directly.

Optimus noticed she had not in fact asked him a question. She had made a declaration; something she was going to do no matter what he said or thought on the matter.

He had just opened his mouth to try and reason with her anyway when a contemptuous snort cut him off. He turned his head so that Sunstreaker came into view, arms crossed stubbornly over his gold painted armor. With growing unease, Optimus noticed too the look on Ariah's face when she saw the mech leaning against the wall to her right.

"You've humored your little friend too much Prime. She's actually begun to think that she can hold her own against a mech like Megatron." Sunstreaker shot, going for offhanded, but coming off as more irritated and impatient instead.

There was a moment of silence where all the optic ridges of the other bots in the room rose at once. "Excuse me?" Ariah finally demanded when Sunstreaker didn't say anything more.

The warrior mech defiantly met the little femme's outraged optics. "You heard me pipsqueak. You're hardly even half the size of those younglings you watch so much and you want to come on a raid with us? Yeah right." He drawled scathingly.

Aria's outrage immediately burned brighter into all out fury. Even Optimus, who had known her the longest, was taken aback by the fire blazing in her blue optics.

Aria drew in a deep breath, preparing herself for what the others knew was going to be a nasty verbal conflict. "Now listen here you yellow painted brat," she hissed as she threw out an accusing finger that held the somewhat surprised Sunstreaker firmly in place, "I don't care who you are, or why you're such a blockhead, but you don't get to talk to me like that. Contrary to what you seem to think, I am not some child you can just push around." She shot back at the irritable mech.

Sunstreaker stared at her a moment, completely thrown by the femme's argument, and from such a small little being too.

But Aria was just getting started.

"Now how about you stop your whiny little tantrum so that we can go and save the others already? Unless you'd prefer to leave them there so you can keep harping on my small size?" She asked, almost as if she could read his processors right then.

But she had crossed a line. She knew it the moment Sunstreaker's eyes started to boil red near the bottom, creating an angry violet around the center of his narrowed optics. "Mute it organic!" He suddenly thundered, advancing slightly as his one hand balled into a threatening fist. "My brother sacrificed his chance at freedom so I could get out of there. And now that I've got the chance to go and get him out, I'm not going to let some stupid little creature that's acting too big for her armor come and ruin our chances of getting in. What in the Pit do you know about leaving someone like that behind?"

Aria's eyes suddenly boiled over with a fierce rage tempered by a deep set loneliness and guilt that made Optimus feel sad for his little friend all over again. Then before anyone could act, Aria had her rope in hand and the grapple was flying out the end. It landed with an angry clank in the gap between the mech's thigh and knee armor, entangling itself in the nest of sensitive wires that were just under the surface.

Sunstreaker gave an infuriated shout that was somehow surprised in the same instant. But he didn't have time to do anything else because Aria gave a vicious pull on the rope, pulling it taut.

Sunstreaker instantly went down on one knee as Aria's grapple threatened to rip several primary motor conduits right out of his leg.

For a moment the mech just stared in complete shock at the hook he could just barely see from where it was buried in the sensitive pressure point that all Cybertronians had.

From off to the side, Wheeljack opened his mouth to say something to try and defuse the loaded situation, but stopped when Chromia held out a hand. "No, no," she quietly murmured, "best to let them finish this."

Wheeljack lowered his arm uncertainly, but remained quiet all the same. On his left, Prowl looked over at the organic femme with a growing sense of pride. It was nice to see that his lessons in the weakness of Cybertronian anatomy had taken root _somewhere_, even if it hadn't been to the audience he had first intended.

Sunstreaker had other things on his processor then the frailties in his frame as Aria stalked toward him, always making sure to keep her rope from going slack. She stopped when she had reached the shadow that stretched from under his kneeling frame. Then with surprising strength for one so small, she reached up and yanked the gold mech's head down nearly even with his knees, closer to hers.

"Now listen here you scrap for brains beast," she snarled at him once they were as close to eye to optic as physically possible, "My sister has been missing for _years_ with no sign or word or anything to let me know she _is even alive_. So don't you dare tell me I don't know how it feels! Now I don't care if you think I'm nothing but a nuisance, but now that I finally know something about where she is, I'm going to save her whether you like it or not!"

If Sunstreaker had been human, his jaw would've dropped wide open. But as it was he looked over at Optimus Prime where he was standing a few yards away, disbelief etched into every one of his faceplates.

"Is she serious?" He demanded hotly in Cybertronian. Inwardly, he decided to overlook the fact that he still couldn't stand up without removing some extremely crucial wiring to normal movement in the process.

Under any other kind of circumstances, Optimus probably would have argued. He wanted to expose the little femme to the kinds of danger that only lived in the battlefield as much as anyone else did and over these last few stellar cycles he had been immensely relieved to hear that she wanted more to look after the sparklings than to venture out of Iacon city and the limited safety it offered. But after seeing the look on Ariah's face (and possibly, at least in part, the incredulous one on Sunstreaker's) he said nothing against her wishes and just shrugged instead.

"You heard her." He told the other mech. "Unless you want to find out what'll happen when you try and tell her no twice." He offered.

Sunstreaker gave the still glaring organic a wary look. No one ever knew if his silence was a rare show of compassion for the little femme's plight, which was so similar to his own, or if he was just plain scared of her, but either way he shot his leader a look that clearly said he was out of his processors.

"Just tell her to get her pit slaggin' hook out of my wires!" He hissed instead.

With a murmured word to his small friend, Optimus did. Aria stepped towards the break in Sunstreaker's armor and with an efficient twist, freed her grapple from the mech's internal circuitry.

Sunstreaker winced at the twang of pain in his knee, but otherwise wasn't harmed from the little exchange.

The mech stood quickly and glared down at the little femme, who gave him one last lingering glare before turning away and tending to her strange weapon instead. Sunstreaker vented a brief burst of angry air, but then ignored the strange femme in return.

He went very still when he saw that everyone else was staring at him now.

"What?" He demanded angrily.

For the most part, the other bots shrugged or looked the other way, not wanting to start another fight, but Jazz met the other Autobot's irate glare. "Nothing," he answered, completely serious, "aside for the fact that you just got your aft handed to you by an organic that can't even jump as high as my leg."

Ironhide snorted from where he stood next to Chromia and Wheeljack. "Yeah, nice goin' there Sunny. Which of you is the soldier again?" He asked with his usual blunt humor.

Sunstreaker glared at the nickname but didn't dare argue against the weapons specialist. Even with his hair trigger he knew not to mess with the tough old Praxian.

Optimus overlooked their verbal play, his mind largely focused on what was ahead of them. "If we're done here," he eventually said cutting through the mechs' back and forth. They all went quiet and looked over at him, waiting for him to give the order.

He tried to. "Autobots, let's r-"

But he was cut off by a little shout of, "No!"

"Oh for Primus' sake, we're never getting out of here," Ironhide muttered as they all turned to see little Bumblebee dashing from the far hallway where he had been watching ever since Aria had started arguing with Sunstreaker.

"Wait, you can't go!" The youngling said forcefully.

Optimus held back a sigh. He didn't need Bumblebee thinking he didn't have enough time to at least try and explain things to him. The little mech was going to have enough troubles growing up in war time, without even having a slim chance at the semi-normalcy that most bots had had.

Instead, the large mech knelt down to be closer to optic level with the youngling. "What is it Bumblebee?" He asked him.

Bumblebee hesitated, digits fidgeting nervously as he glanced between his guardian and the floor. Optimus felt his optic ridges furrow together. He had never seen his youngling look so nervous about asking someone anything. He was usually so outgoing.

"'Bee?" Optimus asked again in a quieter voice.

The little mech's optics flickered uneasily one more time as if he was afraid of what Optimus would think of him.

"I don't want you to go." He finally whispered.

Optimus vented a large sigh and ran a hand over his helm. "Bumblebee-" he tried.

"No!" 'Bee cried suddenly, "No you can't go! Something's wrong. It's all wrong! Something bad is going to happen!" He said, his voice squeaking in his distress.

Optimus frowned slightly at Bumblebee's earnest words. "Bumblebee," he said patiently, "you know that there's always a chance that something bad will happen." He said using words he knew the boy would understand.

But the little yellow bot shook his head. "No, this is different. Nothing's right. Please don't go." He insisted, his optics starting to fill with fluid.

A wash of worry flooded Optimus' frame. For a brief klik Optimus considered the idea that there was something larger at work then just 'Bee afraid that something was going to happen to his family. He even thought of listening to the youngling and calling it off, but it was an extremely brief moment, just a flash of thought he immediately knew he couldn't follow.

"You know we can't do that 'Bee. There are other Autobots that need our help. We need to save them." Optimus told the yellow youngling as gently as he could.

Bumblebee gave a little hiccup of terror.

Optimus glanced up as he detected Ariel's soft footsteps around the far corner his youngling had appeared from earlier. They had to leave soon he knew, so he quickly turned back to Bumblebee. "I have to go now Bumblebee," Optimus told him, "I will see you when we return. Remember to be good for Ariel while we're gone." Then he leaned down and wrapped the youngling in what was supposed to be a comforting embrace.

'Bee knew there was nothing more he could say to change his guardian's mind so he wrapped his small arms around Optimus' neck and nodded slightly, young processor still frantically trying to think of a way to keep the others from leaving. Once they were away from Iacon, little Bumblebee knew the bad thing would get them.

_"They don't understand. They'll never come back."_ He thought frantically. _"It'll get them and they'll never come back!"_

But he was too late. Already Optimus had straightened up again and was turning to leave. Dimly, Bumblebee heard him give the order to roll out. And then they were gone. Most of the mechs turning to give the youngling what were supposed to be reassuring smiles. Aria turned around from where she was sitting on Chromia's shoulder and grinned at him before blowing him a kiss. Usually he would have laughed at her strange organic ways, but he was still too wrapped up in the horrifyingly real feeling that something was going to go terribly, terribly wrong.

'Bee became suddenly aware that he was completely alone. This was his chance. Ariel wasn't here yet, but he could hear her in the near distance. Now was all he'd get to stop the bad thing he felt coming. For a split second, he stared at the door the others had disappeared through, and then made up his mind with a quick, little nod.

When Ariel arrived not two cycles later, the room was empty and, feeling slightly confused, she went to look for 'Bee somewhere else.

...

Iacon passed quickly on the other side of Optimus Prime's alt-form windows, but Aria hardly noticed. Her mind was caught up with her di di's strange outburst. Her Cybertronian wasn't good, exactly, but she had learned enough from Ariel and Hound to understand the general meaning of Bumblebee's words.

"What do you think he meant that something bad was going to happen?" Aria finally asked a few minutes after the outer city limits of Iacon had disappeared behind them.

There was a stretch of thoughtful silence before Optimus answered her. "He is still very young by our standards Ariah. Most likely he was simply afraid by the fact that both you and I are leaving. He's never had to deal with that before. You've always been there for him and the other younglings." He suggested.

But the human girl didn't buy it. "That's not what it sounded like he meant." She thought out loud.

There was a loud gust of air circling through the mech's cab that Aria recognized as a sigh. "No, no it did not." He agreed with her, sounding very much like he did not want to.

Aria waited a moment, sensing Optimus had more to say.

"It is a common belief among us," he finally went on, his voice sounding slightly strained as if he did not want to consider this option, "that the younger members of our species are more in tune with the Matrix, the guiding force of our race. Occasionally Primus, who created and uses the Matrix to speak with us, will give us messages through special younglings."

Aria raised an eyebrow at her oldest alien friend. "And sometimes he hands out warnings too yeah?"

"…yes." Optimus eventually answered her.

Aria thought about this for a moment. "But then, how do you know 'Bee's telling you something from this Primus guy? How can you tell the difference between the source of all your creation and what Bumblebee wants?" She asked, bringing up a question that Cybertronian philosophers had been trying to answer for light years.

Optimus' silence took on a decidedly grim feeling. "You can't." he finally told her, voice bleak.

Aria was silent again. "Oh."

...

They small Autobot force came to a halt a little over a decacycle later, remaining just outside scanning distance of what remained of Kaon city. Like Iacon, the Decepticon headquarters had held its ground throughout the long war. Now it stood, smoke filled and blast riddled, looming in the distance like a storm front ahead of them.

"It's like it hasn't even changed." Treads said after he had transformed back into his bipedal form. He, Prowl, and Optimus were standing behind a large heap of scrap metal, just out of sight of the city. Jazz, Wheeljack, Bluestreak, Chromia, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, and Aria stood behind them, the bots double and triple checking their weapons as the little human looked rather nervously about her. It had been a long time since she had been out of Iacon after all. Although Bluestreak looked even less pleased to be here as he talked nonstop at Aria, who nodded occasionally, Wheeljack cutting in every now and then with the distraction of his new rocket launcher. Optimus had to remind himself that this was the closest Bluestreak had ever been to Megatron's nest of operations.

"We should keep a special optic on him." Prowl murmured to his left, his optics never leaving the city.

Treads made a disbelieving snort. "Blue?" He asked with some incredulity. "He's the last mech that would let'cha down, no matter how green he is."

Prowl gave the rougher mech a sidelong look. He had known Treads before the war - them both living in the Pit that was the conjoined cities of Kaon and Slaughter city - but it wasn't until war had broken out between the Decepticons and the Autobots that they had been on the same side of things. "I don't doubt his mettle, but this is hardly the place to let a mech as young as him get away from us." He pointed out.

Treads shrugged one massive shoulder, deciding not to argue with the tactician's words. "So how you wanna get in?" He asked Optimus instead. "If the 'cons haven't blocked 'em off, I remember a path through the under city up to the industrial sector. Nice way to sneak in unnoticed." He offered.

"No, it's too risky not knowing if that maze is open or not," Prowl interjected before Optimus could answer Treads, "and besides that will take us more towards Slaughter city. Shockwave's lab is in Kaon, closer to the center of Decepticon activity. It'll be more to our advantage to cut through at ground level from the west where their defenses are weaker." He said pointing to show where he meant.

Treads snorted somewhat rudely. "Yeah, because there'll be so much cover from those Seeker fly bys Starscream's known for."

"Enough," Optimus said firmly before Prowl could retort. "Prowl, you take Jazz, Ironhide, Chromia, and Bluestreak and make sure that our exit is clear. Treads, you, Ariah, Sunstreaker, and Wheeljack are coming with me."

A lopsided grin appeared on Treads' scarred faceplates. "We going to pay a visit to Shockwave, Prime?" He asked, anticipating a good brawl getting inside to where the prisoners were being held.

Optimus nodded. "Yes, and I have a feeling that even you'll be tired by the end of this Treads." He said before turning over his shoulder and called out, "Sunstreaker!" in a semi quiet voice.

"How did you get out of the city before?" He asked when the gold painted mech looked up at him.

Sunstreaker joined the other mechs on the hill, careful to keep his brightly painted form out of sight as he pointed off toward the lower right corner of the city spread out before them. "I followed the coolant pipes out of the city, through what used to be the waste removal sector. The blasted up buildings provided lots of cover, and I must have had some luck stored up somewhere." He explained, his optics sharp as he looked between the wasted city and his leader. "If you backtrack that, there's an abandoned waste plant that connects to Shockwave's lab at the other end. It leads straight to his," he sneered in disgust, "experiment rooms where he keeps his projects." He spat, his anger hiding a growing sense of horror at the memory of what he had glimpsed lurking in Shockwave's care.

Optimus nodded and looked at the city and the surrounding land thoughtfully. "Right," he muttered, "you lead the way. We'll approach from the southeast to avoid the empty land around the city. Prowl, you take your team and we'll meet up later."

Prowl nodded sharply before turning and dividing up the bots that hadn't heard the plan already. A burst of weapons cocking and ammo locking into place answered him.

"Don't get lost down there Sunny!" Ironhide quietly shouted out before following Prowl's example and shifting into his alt mode.

Sunstreaker growled but didn't respond as he did the same, his sleek alt mode appearing where his taller form had been moments before.

"Autobots," Optimus Prime's voice cut through the air as he tested their comm. connections and generally made sure everyone was locked and loaded, "roll out!"


	21. Chapter 21: Captured

It's a miracle! 221 reviews! *Squeak* So amazing! XD You all are just so brilliant! I thank you all! ^n_n^ *mrow!* (which means, and I quote, "Thank you all you lovely people for the reviews, prasies, and suggestions, and please next time remember to leave a can of little, salty, canned fish on top of the doorstep." Yeesh, who knew meow-speak was so compact? Although I have noticed they have close to twenty sounds for sardines alone...)

Ahahah! I feel so great! *gleam* But anyway, here is, as promised, chapter twenty-one. And I really can't wait to see what you guys think. Same as last time, I'm just not sure of this chapter because it gave me so much trouble. But a lot of people thought the last one was good so hopefully my mind is only playing tricks on me again.

I'm also very glad to hear that people sided with Aria when she whupped Sunstreaker. Mwahahaha... *evil rubbing of hands as she grins*

Now if you'll just ignore my evil laughter and go on reading, today should be a good day!

...

I Lost A World!

21 – Captured – 21

Tension hummed through the air as the four vehicles rolled silently through the crumbling city of Kaon. The air around them was tight with anxiety and the deeper they rolled into the city, the more Aria wanted to give into screaming fits.

It was like walking through a tomb. The buildings, or what remained of them, were ashen and smoke covered, their supports and walls crumbling down into general oblivion from battles and barrages too numerous to count. The windows had been destroyed so long ago that not even glass shards remained, just a fine layer of dust that coated the debris scattered throughout the road that would have made Aria feel slightly choked if she hadn't been in the relative safety of Wheeljack's interior.

A shiver went through her as the small group made its way deeper into the city, smoke blackened boulders gradually giving way to signs of an even older abuse from the days when Kaon had been considered the worst possible place to step foot in on Cybertron. Now though, it was all about the same no matter where you went.

"You alright back there Aria?" Wheeljack whispered through his internal communications system.

The silence was too tense for Aria to chance talking, so she nodded instead, knowing Wheeljack was aware of her motion.

"We're almost there." The inventor assured her as they rolled through another deserted street crossing. "Just a few more cycles."

Aria swallowed grimly and nodded again. Not for the first time she wondered what awaited them at the end of this road. Of course she had heard of Shockwave before - everyone had after a routine patrol had stumble upon the mass graveyard filled with the mad scientist's obscene, failed experiments - but the question that really bothered her was what in the name of the Matrix did a mech like _that_ want with her little sister?

The thoughts of what he could do to her, what he might have already done, made Aria feel sick to her stomach.

"There it is." Wheeljack whispered even softer than before. Aria clung to his voice in her ears like an anchor, and used it to pull herself out of the dark places her mind had been wandering. She leaned forward to peer out of Wheeljack's green tinted window to see a two story, oblong building, like some kind of manufacturing plant back on Earth, squatting on the ground before them just past the next intersection.

A shaky breath of relief escaped her, its light wind the only sound she had made in what felt like hours. A matching relief echoed in her ride.

Ahead of them, Treads suddenly stopped, perfectly still in the street and Aria knew gut deep that something had gone wrong. She froze in Wheeljack's cab, the inventor's alt mode following suite. For a long moment, nobody moved, not even Optimus and Sunstreaker, who had already reached the other side of the street and were sitting in the slight protection of a crumpled building's dark shadow, which did little to hide Sunstreaker's bright coat.

Aria had just realized she had stopped breathing when a Decepticon rolled into view, making her give a strangled gasp.

It looked like a nightmare come to life. The mech's alt mode was some sort of tank, although nothing like Aria could have ever pictured on her own. The thing was even bigger then Optimus and its treads were almost as thick as the width of her hand. The deadly barrel of a gun, longer then she was tall, extended from the front of the Decepticon. All around it were wicked spikes, like the brambles from Sleeping Beauty's castle, only deadlier, and the thing was coated in war paint. Markings that seemed to shiver with their own perverse life covered him from stem to stern.

Like everyone else there, Aria knew that if the Decepticon saw them, there would be no clean escape from the heavy damage it could inflict. They would have to run if they were seen, and who knew when they might get another chance at infiltrating Kaon, much less Shockwave's laboratory.

_"No, go away,"_ Aria thought silently in her head, her mind a bare whisper as she watched the slowly rolling Decepticon with wide, horrified eyes. _"Go away, go away, go away." _She chanted softly in her head.

As if it had heard her whispering mind, the spiked tank suddenly stopped.

Aria's breath went still again and she felt Wheeljack tense beneath her. Ahead of them Treads remained frighteningly still, trying to blend in with a pile of scrap metal next to him. Not five feet away the Decepticon slowly swiveled its gun turret, spikes drifting dangerously close to Treads back flank. From where she sat in Wheeljack's alt mode, perfectly still, Aria could distinctly hear the _click-click-click_ of the turret as it moved, searching the area with its optical vision.

But if it chose to scan the area instead, Aria knew they were all doomed.

But luck must have been with them, at least for the moment, because the tank never did a scan, and it stopped moving just before its spikes would have pierced Treads' side, blowing the Autobot's cover.

And then after what felt like an eternity, the Decepticon just rolled on.

Aria felt blue by the time the nightmare on steroids had disappeared beyond the next street. She let out the stale air in her lungs with a breathless gasp before sucking in the semi clean air bordered by Wheeljack's windows, her chest burning uncomfortably.

"That was too close." Wheeljack crackled over the comm., sounding just as weakly relieved as Aria felt.

"No kidding." She whispered back as she peered out the side window to see if the Decepticon was still in view. He wasn't.

Even so, Wheeljack and Treads waited a few more minutes before they carefully joined Optimus and Sunstreaker on the other side of the street.

Fortunately, nothing else happened in the small space of time it took them to reach the waste plant and Aria and the mechs were back on their collective feet once they were inside the run down structure, hidden from view.

Despite its outward appearance, the inside of the building Aria now found herself in was incredibly dank and wet and somewhere in the recesses of the pipe-filled building, Aria could hear the steady sounds of liquid dripping onto the floor.

"It smells like water." She observed out loud as she stood and looked around at the black painted pipes that ran crazy paths across the building above her head, ranging in size from the thickness of her wrist to something that could easily hold a raging, flood fed, river.

"That's because what you call water is a very common waste product from the large scale coolant systems that are around here." Wheeljack told her, careful to keep his voice low. "This plant used to collect the water created by the systems and transport it to a disposal sight somewhere where it collects, and after treatment is later put back in the system as new coolant."

Aria gave a snort of laughter as she walked up to get a closer look at one of the lower running pipes. She could hear the gurgling of water rushing inside it. "It's kinda funny," she muttered, "Earth is covered almost three quarters with water and the only thing we use it for is drinking and swimming." She told him.

Wheeljack tilted his head at her, his eyes momentarily glowing brighter in thought. "You swim in it? Isn't that hazardous to your health?" He asked, sounding somewhat concerned.

Aria shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess there's always the risk of drowning, and sometimes sharks or alligators depending on where you live but otherwise…" she trailed off as she reached up to wipe away the condensation growing on the outside of the course, black pipe.

"Ah!" Wheeljack's gasp of air stopped her and she turned around. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Wheeljack told her, sounding alarmed. "You might start glowing, or possibly disintegrating."

Aria quickly stepped away from the gurgling pipe. Then, feeling alarmed, she looked between it and the mech standing a few yards away.

"I don't think the word 'water' is translating between us very well Wheeljack." She told him.

Before Wheeljack could ask her why, Sunstreaker hissed at them, "Would you two pay attention already? We're almost inside. If you don't lower the volume they might hear us."

Wheeljack and Aria were instantly quiet.

Sunstreaker gave them one last glare anyway before looking over at Optimus. Then when the big mech nodded for the younger one to continue, Sunstreaker turned and stalked off down the far wall until they came to a large hole that had been blasted out by some explosion or another.

"Well this looks awfully familiar," Treads muttered with a smirk and a glance back at Wheeljack.

The other mech glared at him. "Don't compare me to that sadist." He said firmly, but otherwise didn't speak as the group walked single file through the hole into the building that sat beyond it. Spotless gray walls met them, kept rigorously clean at Shockwave's command.

"Creepy." Aria whispered as she followed the wary mechs down the hall.

Wheeljack standing next to her nodded and tightened his grip on his gun.

They followed Sunstreaker down the hallway, past the first corner onto a new corridor, onto the second turn, and then the third and the fourth and the fifth, the walls regaining their earlier coating of grime the farther they went.

After the sixth turn and still no sign out of this maze Sunstreaker stopped. "Slag!" He swore, his muffled volume doing nothing to reduce his vehemence. "It wasn't this difficult to get out. It's like the whole building's changed." He growled in a low voice.

"Or we're in some kind of maze." Wheeljack pointed out. "It wouldn't be that hard for someone to add or subtract various wall sections to close off hallways and open up new ones."

"If that's true then someone's leading us around by the nose." Treads added.

Optimus thought about that as he looked first down one way and then back the way they had come from. "No," he finally said, "if they knew we were here there'd be a lot more chaos. And so far we've only seen a couple of sentries wandering around down here. This is probably just a precaution to prevent intruders, but they haven't actually sensed us yet."

"We should find the others and get out of here before that changes." Wheeljack said. This place unnerved him, especially knowing who ran it.

"Yeah, well that might be harder then it sounds." Sunstreaker snapped as he continued to look at the undistinguished walls around them. Inwardly he swore. This was supposed to have been the semi-easy part. He had known where he was going!

"Well we already know what's behind us," Optimus muttered, "we should keep going forward for now. Maybe they haven't changed everything."

It was somewhat wishful thinking, but it was all they had at the moment, so the five silently pressed forward, constantly on the look out for anyone else that might be walking in this labyrinth.

They were right to worry.

Barely a cycle later Optimus' hand flew up, silently calling a halt. The bots, and Aria, froze behind him, quickly bringing arms silently to bear. They could all hear it now; the soft footsteps of someone trying to remain unnoticed coming from around the next bend in the complex hallway system.

Aria backed up where she wouldn't be in the way and watched as weapons came silently up, only the soft click of metal hitting against itself appearing to even hint that they were there at all, and that was easily covered by the stranger's footsteps.

There was a tense stretch of silence as the four mechs waited for the stranger to come into their line of sight. But oddly enough, no one ever did. The hallway remained perfectly empty. The footsteps stopped, dead ahead of them, but there was no one there.

Before the brief flash of confusion led to some tragic mistake, a voice cut through the electrified silence.

"Prime?"

Optimus Prime's confusion took a new turn. He recognized that voice.

So did Sunstreaker. "Mirage?" He asked in muffled disbelief.

There was an electronic 'zzz' kind of noise that surprised Aria, but that was nothing compared to a few seconds later when a large mech just suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the hallway in front of them.

Aria clapped a hand over her mouth to hold back her shout of surprise as she ducked behind Wheeljack's leg. _"A firefight wouldn't have been as heart jumping as that!" _She shouted in her head. _"Where the heck did he come from?"_

Sunstreaker was wondering the same thing as he stepped forward and clasped the mech's hand in a, fairly, amiable way. "Mirage, what are you doing here? I thought everyone had been captured and when I didn't see you, well, I thought the worse. How'd you get away from Shockwave?" He asked quickly.

Even Aria could see the way the new mech stiffened at the Decepticon's name. "I didn't." He said, keeping his voice low. "When I saw that there was no escape, I turned on my cloak so the Decepticons wouldn't know I was there."

"You ran?" Sunstreaker all but accused.

Mirage went stiff and fixed the other mech with a glare. "I _followed _them in here. I've been searching around this place for orbits now." He cringed looking down the hall he had just come from. "And there are things in here that would give Megatron himself nightmares, although I'm sure he already knows about them-"

"Do you know where the others are?" Optimus interrupted him in a low tone.

Mirage hesitated briefly before nodding. "Yeah, Megatron has Hound down in one of the interrogation rooms, but Starscream called him away for…something, I didn't catch what, so Hound's alone for the moment." Mirage reported stoically, but then he cringed. "Shockwave has the rest just down there." He said, pointing towards the right arm of the hall with distaste and horror. "And while I can't say I envy them, there certainly are worse places to be in this place."

Sunstreaker shot Mirage a furious glare. "Yeah? Like where?" He demanded, not expecting an answer.

He got one anyway. "Right now Sideswipe and the rest are being held in Shockwave's lab, but back there," he said pointing the way he had come, "is where he keeps his experiments. And if given the choice, I would rather be locked in a cage with Shockwave standing over me then in an open room with one of those," he had trouble finding the right word, "_monstrosities_ he's created." He whispered fiercely.

Down below, Aria watched as Sunstreaker leaned in close to the disappearing-reappearing mech and growled something she probably didn't want to understand. Instead of watching the antagonistic mech pick another fight at the worst time possible, Aria turned in a slow 360, warily watching the bleak walls that surrounded them at this t-intersection.

"I don't like this place," she muttered to anyone that bothered to listen to her, "It's giving me the creeps."

"Well it does belong to a psycho." Treads pointed out, but Aria saw that he was giving the shadows another look as well.

"I don't know if this'll translate well," Aria spoke up again, her eyes never leaving their inspection of the so far empty hallway that stretched off behind them, "but you know that eerie feeling when it feels like someone's staring at you and the hairs on the back of your neck just stand up?"

"No," Treads said, "but if it's anything like when your gyros freeze up then I think I know what you mean."

"I'll just have to take your word for it." Aria said as she finally completed her spin.

At the far end of the corridor, a shadow suddenly moved.

"What was that?" Aria slowly asked, fervently hoping that the horror movie atmosphere was just messing with her eyes.

But then everything happened at once.

Aria had just barely registered a muttered, "Oh slag," from Treads seconds before Mirage and Optimus just disappeared – Zzzz! – into thin air and a frightening cry, like that of a feral cat but sicker, screamed down the hallway, stunning Aria with its force.

Before her brain could process what was going on, what felt like a hoard of sleek bodied predators - hairless felines mixed in with large, slobbering canines - leapt from around the corner, claw filled paws striking up sparks against the gleaming metal floor.

Aria didn't have time to scream before they were on them and the metallic sounds of hand to hand combat started. Silvered fangs filled her vision and she darted beneath one of the misshapen creatures before it had a chance to use them on her throat. Dimly she registered someone shouting above the uproar in Cybertronian but she didn't have time to even realize who was speaking as another…_thing_ leapt for her.

This time she didn't have time to duck before it handed heavily on her chest, knocking her backwards to the floor.

There was a crack and a blinding pain in the rear of her skull and then she was out cold, oblivious to the rest of the fight.


	22. Chapter 22: Straight to Pit

Classes are finally out! Hooray! Now maybe I can actually get some writing done...

Ahem, right, okay. Thanks go to _everybody, _and I mean every single one of you, for your reviews, especially to EvilPurpleCookiePenkeyMonguin (awesome name by the way) and Ford B for giving me reviews to wake up to today. After sleeping till ten it was next on my *Things that make a good Saturday morning after staying up til 5:30 in the morning this week trying to finish my writing portfolio list* So yeah, good day.

And even though I have been very bad about replying this week (it was this week right? I can't really tell any more. They're all starting to blend together now as is the curse of finals week...) I still adore you all! I love all your reviews and every mark on the hit list, which isn't usually something you say is good, a hit list, but in this case it is! Anyway, I'm rambling aren't I? I blame not being caught up on my sleep yet personally, but that doesn't matter right now! All that matters is that you read and then shriek in excitement!

^n_n^ Ahaha! And guess what? No more chapter-doubt! I _know_ this one's good! Heheheheheheh *grins mischievously* Now hopefully you all will agree with me. But with all the faces (evil, new, and otherwise) I think you wi~ill...

...

22 – Straight to Pit – 22

Aria was aware of the bright, consistent pounding in her head long before she was aware of anything else. But then, with excruciating slowness, the distant creaks of un-oiled metal began to press itself against her limited, hazy consciousness.

_"What…?"_ the half formed word drifted through her aching mind before she could stop it. A dark, pulsating red abruptly splashed across the back of her eyelids and began to beat in time with the ferocious pounding against her skull. She would have groaned if she hadn't thought it would hurt more than help. Just that stunted thought alone had hurt and she wasn't in any hurry to add to the mountain of pain and pressure squatting inside her dented skull.

Gradually the drum-like beating against the inside of her head lessened, at least from the incessant force of an angry herd of mad elephants to the deranged beating of a far too enthusiastic rock drummer, and she dared to open her eyes at least a little bit.

At first all she could see were large, blurred colors, mostly black and gray, but the longer she stared, the more different the colors became. Some turned darker, resolving into large swaths of blanketing shadows and sharp edged devices that looked nothing less than demonic, while others became lighter and brighter, eventually turning into the familiar forms of Wheeljack and Sunstreaker.

She was more than unnerved when her sight focused enough to make out that the large streaks barring her vision were, in fact, bars. Large, rough, iron, bars that she knew would cut her palms if she touched them. The creaking was coming from them.

Aria rolled her head back so that she could see the ceiling of whatever cage she had been locked in. The pounding at the back of her head spiked again. Now she did groan as the pain throbbed a few nauseating seconds more before moving to the back of her eyes and settling to become a dull, aching throb behind her blue orbs.

The others must have heard her because Wheeljack turned and saw her before leaning forward to whisper, "Aria? Are you online yet?"

Aria lightly moved her head, infinitely glad the throbbing didn't increase again this time, and squinted through her bars at the inventor. She was horrified to realize that they were all in cages, although part of her mind simply thought, _"Well duh. What did you think the bars were for?"_

She ignored that thought as she dragged herself upright, groaning softly as the world spun dizzyingly as if it had forgotten which way it was supposed to sit. "Yeah, I'm up." Aria managed to answer Wheeljack as she hung her head in her hands, palms pressed tight against her eyeballs to try and convince them to behave.

When she thought the action wouldn't make her sick, she looked up again, taking in their dismal accommodations. Despite the fact that she would barely be able to wrap both her hands around the thick bars, the cage itself was small, maybe twice Aria's arm span. Without measuring it, she knew it was a perfect cube, the sign of a sickly perfectionist mind no doubt. She also saw that each side held thirteen bars.

_"Definitely a bad omen, but then I guess I knew what I was getting into anyway."_ She thought in a somewhat disjointed fashion as she looked around.

In all honestly, it was like being in a giant, square, bird cage, paper-like floor coverings and everything. When she turned back towards Wheeljack she saw that the only difference between her cage and the others was that it was smaller and somewhat dustier.

_"They must have had to pull out the special, mini sized accommodations for me. Aren't I special?"_

But now other things were beginning to grab her attention. "Wha-what happened?" She stammered, gently probing the back of her head. She flinched when she found the goose egg there, but the room didn't start spinning again so she decided that that was a good sign. "Wheeljack, where are we?" Aria asked, her voice taking on a terrified pitch.

Beyond the bars of her cage she could just barely make out the dim and haunting shadows of sharp edged objects too numerous to count where they lined the walls. She gasped in horror when she realized that most of them were covered with lubricants and other vital Cybertronian fluids. And then there were a dreaded few – most sitting by the large, slanted metal table, much like a human surgical table, complete with restraints – were covered with brightly colored energon, the life blood of any living being on Cybertron. Bile rising in her throat, Aria realized that some of it was still glowing faintly in the dark, the rough equivalent of blood that hadn't turned that dried, rust color yet.

"What in Hell is this place?" Aria whispered in horror, backing away from the side of her cage where she had gone to get a better look. A mistake she would not be repeating.

A rough rush of air, what Aria had come to realize was a sardonic snort, cut through the dank and dismal air on the other side of the room to her right. She crawled slightly closer to that side of her dangling cage and peered through the nonexistent light.

Dimly she could see a red painted mech sitting in a cage of his own on the other side of the room next to a bank of glowing, clouded over glass windows.

"Sideswipe?" She asked in mild surprise. It seemed too easy. She just woke up and there he was, the others sitting just beyond him she could see now, or on Sunstreaker's other side. Where was the difficulty? The hurdles they had to jump over to find them?

She took another look at her birdcage and decided to shut the heck up.

Sideswipe gave another snort as he crossed his arms over his chest. Even in the dark Aria could make out the fresh, roughly made scars that cut across his bright red paint. "Yeah, and nice rescue by the way. I'm feeling much better now that I know we have company." He shot, giving the newly filled cages another narrow look.

Aria ignored his pointed exasperation and pressed her face as close to the bars as she dared to try and see farther into the gloom. Treads was on Sideswipe's other side and beyond him was Cliffjumper and Hot Rod, who had been part of the party with Sunstreaker. She was more than relieved to see that they were still whole, for the most part. However Hound and Mirage were missing.

Aria hoped that Mirage's absence was a good thing, but she was still somewhat confused, possibly because of the concussion she felt sitting in her aching head. "But where-?" she tried to ask again.

Without warning a door suddenly opened with a hiss and a click. Immediately lights came on, bright and unforgiving, making the collective prisoners groan at the sudden whiteness of everything. It was painful after all that seeping darkness.

With the sunspots dancing in front of her eyes it took Aria a moment to see what was making that nasty, metal rasping sound that accompanied the footsteps as they marched into the room. Her mouth dropped open in a soundless gasp when her vision cleared enough to make out the motionless, camouflaged form of Hound being dragged in the wake of two mechs towards the empty cage with the door hanging open on the far side of the room.

A ringing clang echoed through the room when the threw him in, but Hound hardly even twitched as the door slammed shut behind him. Newly inflicted wounds glistened along with freshly made scars that showed with ugly relief in the harsh white light of the room.

A part of Aria's chest froze in horror at the sight, even as another went limp with relief when she saw Hound's hard blue optics follow the frames of his captors as they turned and left, going slightly faster then they had come.

_"I don't even want to think about what it says when not even Megatron's subordinates want to be in Shockwave's house of horrors."_ Aria thought as she heard the door close again behind the two that had dragged Hound in.

The lights stayed on, even after they had left, so Aria and the others could see as Hound managed to drag himself up enough to rest his back against the far bars of his prison. She knew exactly when he saw her because his eyes went wide and he slid about a foot back down towards the floor.

"Aria! But-" he wordlessly stammered a second, "but what are _you_ doing _here_?" He demanded, clearly horrified.

"For once an excellent question." A voice like a drone appeared behind them all.

Aria spun around, sending up paper thin shavings flying up in a small cloud. Behind her, standing silent as a ghost, was a tall, blocky sort of mech painted a purple with more red in it than blue. He didn't have eyes, just a strip like red visor where they would have bee. It glowed darker near the middle like a great, burning eye that saw through everything and it more then freaked Aria out. He didn't have hands either, just four flat fingers that closed in a claw like motion. His voice was more stereotypically robot, unlike any other bot Aria had met. Everyone else, even Megatron and Starscream (who were about as non-human as anything could get without being a feral animal) possessed inflection, enough to show their tyrannical madness and sniveling narcissism respectively. But Shockwave? He sounded like an old science fiction computer speaking.

Aria had no doubt that it was Shockwave staring at her now with his one red strip instead of eyes. No one else could have been so stoic yet so invasive with just a look. It was like he had just found a new toy he planned to take apart, piece by piece, to see how it worked.

"Why are you here, organic thing?" Shockwave asked, his deep voice devoid of any inflection, good or bad.

Aria couldn't find enough words to answer him. Inside she was a mix of anger at being face to face with the being that had held her sister in his demented grip for so long, and fear for all the rumors and cold hard facts she had heard about this mad scientist. She knew her knees were shaking, but there was nothing she could do to hide the tremors or the way her breath stuttered as she drew it in. He had probably already heard the way her heart had skipped a beat too, the jerk, but still Aria could do nothing but stare in shock and fear at the mech standing not ten feet away, his visor falling just even with her line of sight.

Before Aria could think of anything to say to her own personal demon, Sunstreaker vented a derisive snort. "Because she's a complete pain in the aft that can't keep her nose out of her masters' business to save her sorry life." He drawled, lying through his teeth, or whatever he might have had that equaled teeth.

Even through her sudden mild panic attack, Aria had enough cognitive power (not to mention affronted dignity) left in her to turn her head and give the gold painted mech a look of complete disbelief. Master? What was she, some kind of pet now? What was his problem that he had to go and twist the truth like that to make her sound like a complete and literal bi-

_"Oh..."_ she thought, realization slowly dawning. He was helping her. Well, sort of. Out of all the mechs in this room, only Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, and Treads even knew she had a sister, much less that she was on Cybertron, in this very Horrors from Hell freak show. Given what Sunstreaker had seen before his escape, there was no question that Shockwave knew Sera, but had he known about Aria? Or that Aria knew her sister was so close?

No. He couldn't possibly. And now he still wouldn't know. Aria was just a pet, something to be looked after because she had no power of her own. She shouldn't even be here.

Deciding to play along, Aria let her legs shake more as she slowly, carefully, slid one large step back away from Shockwave.

The middle of Shockwave's visor darkened slightly, the same as a raised eyebrow possibly, and he stared harder at Aria, who froze as soon as his attention reaffixed itself on her small form. Not all of the tremors shaking her body were for show.

Shockwave turned back to Sunstreaker and stared at the other mech, faceplates giving away no emotion, if he felt anything at all that is. "And you give your pet a weapon?" He asked, holding up Aria's tiny pistol. In any other creature alive Shockwave's tone might have been incredulity, but now only sounded like someone asking about today's weather.

Sunstreaker smirked at Shockwave, not altogether a pleasant sight. "Even pets have teeth." He pointed out before nodding slightly at Aria. "This one's just smart enough to realize she needed something better before leaving home."

Shockwave's visor narrowed as he computed the chances that Sunstreaker was lying to him. As Aria watched she saw that he had arrived at the correct chance.

As Shockwave computed, Sunstreaker threw a look at his brother across the room. There was a split second moment of shared understanding, and Aria realized that Sunstreaker and Wheeljack weren't the only ones that knew about Sera. Somehow, Sideswipe knew what was going on too.

But she didn't have time to focus on that right now. She'd sort it out later when Shockwave wasn't breathing down her neck.

_"It's not working!"_ She thought wildly as she looked at the thoughtful purple mech, eyes roving around as fear started to take hold. _"I've got to do something to show him I'm just a stupid little know-nothing! But how-?"_

An idea struck her. It was so easy. What did every animal in the world do when it felt threatened?

Shockwave turned back toward her as her low, angry, growl drifted out of the cage. He watched her, clearly intrigued, as Aria growled, low in her chest and throat, and fixed him with the most feral look she could manage. She yowled like a sick cat when he turned to fully face her, back arching up behind her as she leaned forward slightly on one hand, looking like she didn't want to get too close, but still wanted to keep him away from her territory as well.

_"Come on,"_ Aria thought, growling hard enough to make her throat hurt, _"buy it you slag head!"_

"Interesting," Shockwave finally muttered as he watched Aria put on her best impression of a mad cat, "it seems these creatures react with similar ferocity when challenged."

That almost made Aria stop her hissing cold. _"Similar ferocity? Sera did this too?"_ She asked herself incredulously. But then she couldn't help but smile grimly at the mech. _"I guess great minds think alike. That and she always did like to play at being a cat."_ It was true. One time Aria had taken Sera to visit a friend of hers who was a year older and already in college. Sera had meowed all across the dorm room floor, much to the amusement of Aria's friend and her sister's slight embarrassment.

"I must admit, I'm quite impressed," the mad scientist said as he marveled at Aria, peering at her like one would a spiny caterpillar pinned up in a display case, "how did you keep it from decaying? I'm afraid my specimen aged rather rapidly before I realized what was happening, and then the only way I could keep it in prime condition was by putting it in stasis, but this!" He exclaimed, leaning in closer to peer at Aria, "This is just remarkable."

Aria glared at the mech so fiercely it was a wonder he didn't just burst into flames. _"My sister and I are not specimens!"_ She yelled inwardly as she stalked over to the side of the cage Shockwave was peering through and hissed at him, showing off white teeth.

For the first time, something like a smirk crept onto the scientist's face. "Feisty for something that's lived past its time, isn't it?" He asked, simply for the sake of inflicting harm.

_"What is this slag head talking about now? Decaying and stasis and living past its time? Past what time? For a scientist he sure doesn't make much sense."_ She thought, her mind concentrating too much on the fact that he was only a yard away from her now rather then his words. She would just have to store them away to think on them later.

Aria quieted down once Shockwave turned away from her cage. She watched curiously as the purple mech carelessly threw her pistol on the control counter before pushing a button next to the door. Not two seconds later the two mechs that had brought Hound in reappeared in the doorway.

"Sir?" One asked from the doorway, although Aria noticed that neither stepped forward into Shockwave's domain quite yet.

"This one," Shockwave said blandly with a sharp gesture at Wheeljack, "and this one," he switched his pointing to Sunstreaker, "in rooms two and eight. I will be with them momentarily."

Aria's eyes went wide as all semblance of ferocity faded away. "No," she whispered, her voice hidden by the clang of opening doors as the two Decepticons hauled her friends out of their prisons and roughly shoved them towards the door, the shock locks pinned near their shoulders keeping both Autobots from fighting back.

Shockwave spared Aria one last penetrating glance before he followed them.

"I do not like specimens with fight in them. It drags the experimenting process out unnecessarily." He told her. And then he left, off to continue his perverted brand of 'science' on Wheeljack and Sunstreaker.

For a long, horrified, moment, Aria sat in her birdcage and stared at the door. _"Why is he doing this?"_ She thought, but she was scared to death to discover the answer. Not everyone was meant to understand the mind of a psychopathic scientist.

In her stupefied state, it took her longer then it should have for her to realize that Sideswipe was staring at her, silently trying to catch her attention through the bars that separated them.

"Sideswipe-" she tried to ask him what was going on. Where was her sister? But he quickly cut her off.

"Don't worry too much about 'em pet. Sunstreaker can pound the lot of them with one hand tied behind his back." He said, maintaining the illusion of ownership as he looked at something outside of his cage. "Hear that Megatron? He's going to kick your aft!" He yelled downright cheerfully.

Confused, Aria looked over to see what he was yelling at. Her eyebrows rose when she caught sight of the camera mounted on the wall.

_"Cameras,"_ she thought with some surprise at herself for not noticing sooner, _"I hadn't thought of that. So that means they're still watching us then. Great."_

Sideswipe settled back against his cage, fully facing her. Aria frowned at him slightly. His grin was just too darn smug for someone that was supposed to be trapped in a mad scientist's laboratory.

Moving one hand up to his chest where it was hidden from the watchful eyes of the surveillance system by the overhang of his cage roof, he pointed out a second, third, fourth, and fifth spy eye, each clinging to the wall at different points around the room where they could get almost a complete panoramic view of the laboratory cages.

Aria's eyes went wide when she realized that the key word there was 'almost'.

There was indeed a camera pinned to the wall next to Aria's cage, pointed at her just like the others were pointed at her friends and comrades. Except for some reason, it was pointed at least two feet below where her cage hung. Judging from the placement of the camera, Aria realized that her cage must not have been here before. They really had moved it in especially for her. And moved one of the normal, Cybertronian sized ones out. And that meant…

Nobody could see her.

_"Thank you birdcage!"_ Aria crowed just as the realization dawned on her that she was practically, miraculously, invisible to Shockwave's all seeing visor.

Sideswipe saw from the amazed, ecstatic look on her face that Aria had figured it out. His smirk grew into a full fledged fighter's grin as he gave her one slow, sure nod. Inwardly, he still wasn't sure how the little organic was going to get out of her cage – it was a good twenty feet off of the floor after all – but it was something anyway. And besides, he wasn't finished with his instructions yet.

Fortunately for him, Aria had the second part covered. She was already pulling out her hook and lasso. Thankfully Shockwave hadn't taken it away from her when he'd taken away her gun. _"He must not be as creative as Wheeljack."_ She thought with pride in her friend which she quickly used to squish out the knot of worry that was twisting in her stomach as she wondered what was happening to her good friend trapped in Shockwave's experiment chambers.

But she quickly shook it off as she realized that Sideswipe was looking at her again.

She lowered her eyebrows at him in a questioning manner. He held up three fingers, which he raised slightly after a moment, and then he held up two, which he turned over sideways.

Aria tilted her head at him in silent questioning.

Sideswipe showed her the number three again, and again raised his fingers in unclear fashion.

This time Aria mouth, "What?"

Frustrated now, Sideswipe held up a finger and jerked it up.

_"Oh,"_ Aria thought as she looked up to see rows upon rows of clouded glass windows, _"well why didn't you say so?"_

"Oh," Aria murmured aloud as she realized what the red mech's numbers had meant. "Three up and two acr-"

Her breathe suddenly froze in her chest.

There, in the third row up and in the second window from the end, enshrouded by the frosty mist of condensation, was a face that was at once both strange and more familiar than Aria's own.

_"But it can't be!"_ She thought in bewildered panic. _"It just can't!"_

But it was.

It was Sera's face; Sera's beautiful, childish face, partially hidden by the frost.

Suddenly Shockwave's earlier words started to make sense.

_"…the only way I could keep it in prime condition was by putting it in stasis…"_

"It's a stasis pod," Aria whispered to herself. "That's what he meant. He made her sleep so that he could preserve her for his little tests." She spat the word with fury.

Only Sideswipe's hissed whisper kept her from screaming for Shockwave's spark then and there, ruining everything.

"Aria," he hissed as low as he could across the room, "focus. Get her out. She knows the rest."

It was a struggle, but Aria nodded. Sunstreaker had said that he had seen Sera out and awake, which meant she wasn't always in stasis. Sera had always been a smart girl and much more mathematically minded than Aria. She probably knew the workings of this place better then some of Megatron's own forces. She could get the others out of their cages.

Aria aimed her hook and let it fly. There was a brief noise as metal and rope whistled through the air, and then a solid clang as the hook entangled itself around a low lying metal strut that hung about seven feet above the ledge that would take Aria to her sister's row of stasis cylinders.

_"Here goes nothing."_ Aria thought with a deep breath as she made herself as skinny as possibly and sidled sideways through the bars. It was a tight squeeze, but not very difficult. Aria guessed that Shockwave must have thought the impressive height between her and the floor would have convinced her to stay in the relative safety of her cage.

_"On any other day…"_ She thought as she flattened her back against the rough bar behind her and stiffly tried to keep from pitching over the thin lip of the birdcage base.

Then she made the mistake of looking down.

Aria felt every muscle in her body freeze as the monstrous gap of air between her and the floor loomed large and empty beneath her. Her vision started to swim dizzyingly as she realized that it would only take one misstep and _splat_, she'd be nothing but a pancake.

She leaned back and wrapped a shaking hand around the nearest bar, feeling the rough surface of the metal cut gouges into her skin.

"Oh boy," she muttered as she let out a slow, shaky breath.

"Aria! Get a grip!" Sideswipe hissed from across the room.

Aria's eyes snapped up from the floor at his words. With some difficulty, she forced herself to breathe in regularly. _"Get a grip. Right."_ She thought, taking Sideswipe more literally then he had intended as she wrapped her other hand tighter around the end of her lifeline that connected her to the wall across from her.

She looked up once, her eyes going unerringly to her sister's still form in the mist shrouded stasis pod. She let out another deep breath.

And jumped.

There was a moment of freefall that nearly gave Aria a heart attack as she saw the gray floor coming up to greet her. But then there was a vicious yank against her arms as her slack disappeared and started the inevitable swing towards the wall underneath where her hook was secured.

Somehow she managed not to scream as she soared towards the flat wall. However she did end up squeezing her eyes shut. Not the wisest choice at the moment, but then at least this time she wasn't trying to fire a weapon.

She slammed into the wall with enough force that her rope was almost ripped bodily out of her hands, but she managed to cling to it with a very human tenacity as the stars finished dancing in front of her eyes. Around the time they were taking their curtain call she remembered how to breathe again.

She hung there for a moment - gasping and aching - and waited to see if her crash had attracted any unwanted attention. But after several long minutes of silence, she assumed that it hadn't and uncurled one finger just enough to press the retract button on the top of her grapple. Despite the strain her dead weight was putting on the motor, the cylinder in her hand began to pull the rope back into itself, dragging Aria towards the bar the hook was wrapped around in the process.

Every single mech in the room knew what was happening, but still they all tried very hard not to watch her, lest they give her away.

To much relief, not the least of which was her own, Aria made it to the end of her line and pulled herself up onto the ledge without any sirens or alarms going off. She rolled into a crouch, set look on her face as she stayed low and watched the door for movement, looking more feline now then she had when she was trying to throw off Shockwave, although she didn't know it. When still nothing moved, she quickly dashed across the row of stasis devices and just as quickly stopped at the second one to the end.

This was it.

_"Sera…"_ Aria's mind whispered. Through the mist inside the cylinder, Aria could make out her sister's face, although it was so blurred and clouded that for a moment Aria wondered if maybe she was just imagining things; that her mind was so desperate for this to be Sera that it was lying to her.

She quickly shook that thought out of her head. This was her sister. She'd know that face anywhere, no matter how much it changed.

Turning away from the girl beyond the glass, Aria searched the edges of the pod, but there was no control panel that she could see.

"How do I open it?" She whispered at Sideswipe.

One dark gray hand appeared through the bars of his cage, dangling as if he just wanted to stretch his arm a little. Aria didn't miss the twitch towards the end of the row.

Obediently Aria passed the last pod sitting at Sera's right. The control panel was there, conveniently sized for minicon digits, which conveniently weren't much larger then human ones. Not so convenient was the key pad set squarely in the middle of the panel.

"There's a code!" She hissed down at Sideswipe.

His fingers started moving again, forming numbers quickly.

_"Finally, a code I know."_ Aria thought as she just as quickly typed in the numbers. _"8-7-2-9-3 spells op-en ses-a-me."_ She inwardly chanted.

A sudden hiss and a puff of frosty smoke had Aria holding her breath as her sister's pod opened.

Heart fluttering nervously, Aria rushed back to the now open cylinder. White gas and cold air still lingered, but enough of the air had cleared that Aria could make out the golden hue to her baby sister's hair. She had been jealous of those golden locks ever since Sera's hair had actually grown in.

"Sera?" Aria whispered, barely holding back her nervousness and excitement.

The golden haired girl moaned softly, and then fell forward with the strength of a rag doll.

"Sera!" Aria squeaked in fear, throwing out her arms to catch the other girl. She only half succeeded as Sera's weight threw her to the floor. "Sideswipe! Something's wrong with Sera. She won't wake up!" Aria hissed, borderline panicked, down at Sideswipe's cage.

"Just give her a klik." He hissed back.

"We don't have a klik." Cliffjumper forcibly muttered next to him.

Aria dimly heard Sideswipe's disgusted growl and the muted argument between the two mechs, but the majority of her attention was solely fixed on the young human face, the first she had seen in far too long, cradled in her lap.

"Come on Sera, wake up!" Aria pleaded as she gently tapped her sister's cheeks, hoping it would help. All it did was turn her cheeks red.

"Sera," Aria pleaded, her voice starting to turn thick. She was going to start crying soon if her sister didn't do something.

A soft whine came from Sera's nose.

Aria's heart nearly stopped, and then it quickly thundered on at a mad gallop. "Sera?" She squeaked.

Familiar blue eyes slowly blinked open, squinting up at Aria's panicked face. But much to Aria's surprise and disappointment, they did not light up in amazement and delight when they saw her.

Instead they closed and Sera groaned, a pitiful sound if ever Aria had heard one.

"Great," Sera grumbled, her voice rough with disuse, "I've finally gone round the bend. I've snapped. I'm delusional. Well I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later."

Aria blinked down at her sister, all thought of tears forgotten. "Eh?" She finally found enough voice to stutter. "Sera, what are you talking about? It's me. Aria. I've finally found you." She said, total shock setting in.

Sera slowly blinked before staring back up at Aria. "Prove it." She said.

Aria stared down at her sister in complete confusion. "What?" She asked. She must have heard wrong. After being held captive for years no one ever said 'prove it' when they were finally rescued in the story books.

Sera raised a fine, blonde eyebrow at her. "You heard me." She drawled.

Aria stared, open mouthed, for a long moment. "Prove it?" She finally stuttered in cartoon-like shock. "That's the thanks I get for getting up at the crack of dawn and driving you to choir every Tuesday morning? _Prove it_?" She squeaked, her voice reaching new pitches as she gawked at the ridiculousness of this nonsense. She had often thought long and hard about what she was going to do and say when she finally found her sister again. None of those scenarios had had the words 'prove it' anywhere in them.

Sera frowned lightly up at the girl leaning over her. "Aria?" She whispered, some disbelief finally creeping into her voice.

Aria's frown was anything but light. "I don't know, apparently I could be a delusion!" She snapped.

Fortunately they were interrupted before they could really get their argument going.

"You awake yet up there softie?" Sideswipe asked softly, but there was still an edge of urgency in his voice.

Sera gasped in recognition and she quickly rolled over so she could peer over the side of the ledge she and Aria were sitting on. "Sideswipe? Is that you?"

Both girls could hear the grin in the mech's voice. "You'd better believe it." He murmured back.

Sera's smile nearly split her face. "You're still alive!" She whispered joyously.

"Yep, now how about you get us out of this Pit before Shockwave comes back?" He suggested, his voice not quite as light as he had been striving for.

Sera nodded immediately and clumsily stumbled to her feet, her legs not very steady after who-knew-how-long in the stasis chamber.

Aria was slower to follow. "Oh sure, long lost sister's just a figment of her imagination, but the mech that's only been lost a few weeks? Why he's just got to be real!" She grumbled as she followed her sister down to the main control console several feet below them.

By the time she got there, Sera had already released the locks on the cage doors and they just snapped open, all at once. As Aria retrieved her miniature firearm, the mechs that still could got out of their prisons as fast as possible. Then they helped the ones that couldn't quite do it on their own power.

A sharp pinch on her arm made Aria yelp.

"Youch!" She cried and looked over at her attacker. Sera was staring at her, blue eyes bigger and more Bambi like than ever. "What did you do that for?" Aria demanded, rubbing at her arm.

Sera blinked at her, as if she was trying to decide if she was seeing a ghost or not. "You're real." She mumbled.

Aria frowned lightly. "Yeah, I told you that already." She said, somewhat hotly. She didn't like being pinched.

Large tears suddenly welled up in Sera's blue eyes. "Oh Aria!" She cried, throwing her arms around her sister's neck in a teary eyed tackle. "Aria I thought I'd never see you again! I thought you were dead and I was alone and I'd never get home and, and-" She cried, tears rolling hysterically down her face.

Aria's irritation evaporated and she wrapped her arms tight around her sister without a second thought. She held tight as a few of her own tears escaped to roll down her face. "I know, I missed you too Sera." She mumbled thickly into her sister's long, blonde-gold hair.

They were quiet for a moment. And then Sera drew back with a sudden, "Ow!"

Sera rubbed at her arm and stared in shock at her older sister. "You pinched me!" She accused.

Aria wiped her eyes dry and sniffed once before smiling. "Yep, now we're even."

"Ladies?" Sideswipe cut in, once again cutting off the sibling banter, "You ready to ditch this Pit yet or what?" He asked, smirking as he held out his hand to transport them to the floor.

Sera and Aria shared a look, the pinching war suddenly forgotten. They answered him as one.

_"Yes!"_


	23. Chapter 23: Escape

O.O Holy cow! You guys sent me _22_ reviews! Dear Lord in heaven they are amazing! All of you are brilliant! I am so stunned and grateful and deliriously happy that I can't even study! Oh wait! That's a bad thing! Ahhhh! Help me! Finals are tomorrow at eight in the morning! Where's the stupidhead that thought that up? Sadist...I need to instigate some country wide search for him so that Sideswipe and Ironhide can give him a piece of my mind for me. I would ask Sunstreaker to go but I don't want to get within throwing range of him now that he is officially Sunny to everyone he knows. n_n; Us humans and our darn nicknames.

Anyway, I really do have to go and study so thank you all again! When I get to burnt out from staring at textbooks and not learning anything new at all I will answer your reviews, really I will. I actually _want _to anyway, but we'll see how last minute panic affects my brain and study habits. So yeah...

You all are amazing, hope you like this next chapter, and see you when all this finals madness is over! I'll be the one singing sleeplessly in the little nearby corner of cyberspace.

...

I Lost A World!

23 – Escape – 23

After the rest of their team had been captured by Shockwave's experiments, the halls of the mad scientist's base had become much more crowded. No doubt every mech on site had been alerted to the new Autobot threat. It was making it very hard for Optimus Prime and Mirage to navigate their way unnoticed through the labyrinth of hallways and rooms, although so far they had managed.

"How's it look?" Optimus muttered as quietly as he could so as not to attract unwanted attention. He found it more than slightly ironic. They could communicate silently through highly compacted pulse waves, but that could easily be picked up by the Decepticons surrounding them, so currently the best option they had was whispering and hoping no one else heard them.

It was little things like this that made Optimus hate irony.

Mirage ducked back around the corner after peeking to see how crowded the hallway beyond looked. "Still too many 'cons." He muttered. "If they don't leave soon we'll have to find another way to the vault."

'The vault' was what most of the mechs around here called Shockwave's lab, seeing as it was where he had locked away his most crucial, or most volatile, experiments. It was also where the captured Autobots were currently being held.

Subtly, Optimus let his head lean back against the wall behind him, eliciting a small metallic sound that barely registered amid the dim chaos coming from around the corner. There might indeed be a clear path down to the vault somewhere else, however they had lost so much time already. Shockwave was not known for his patience. Optimus had no doubt that if the Decepticon scientist hadn't gotten an Autobot on his table already, then he would soon. They simply did not have enough time to find another way. They needed to get through the crowd of Decepticons _now_.

And suddenly, almost as if it had been planned by some higher power, or possibly Fate had just decided in her arbitrary way to step in and grant then a mercy, their way in was literally dragged into view.

The two hidden Autobots were standing pressed tight against the walls of one of the numerous four way intersections, doing their best to remain undetected behind the invisibility Mirage's cloak created around them. Before and around them, mercifully unaware of their presence, hovered the numerous Decepticons that worked under Shockwave, mainly other scientist types along with a healthy mix of brawn for safety precautions that involved mad experiments just as much as the Autobot threat. The noise that drifted through the intersection was what could be expected from any large group of purpose driven mechs.

But then a shift occurred in the noise, a sudden rise quickly followed by a silence that had a fearful tinge to it. Optimus looked up when his mind registered the shift to see that the disturbance was coming from the hallway opposite from where he and Mirage stood. It approached them like a wave, a series of gasps immediately followed by jaws snapping shut as bots moved out of the way.

Soon enough the source of the wave became clear as two large mechs appeared through the parting throng, a couple of Megatron's ex-gladiators lent to Shockwave, Optimus had no doubt. They were dragging a third mech behind them, beaten and bruised from the latest pursuit of information. As the small group passed by the place Optimus Prime and Mirage stood, they saw that it was Hound being led back down to the vault.

Shockwave was at the front of the small party, staring straight ahead of him as if the mindless rabble around him wasn't even worth his attention.

There was a brief moment of stillness as the four mechs left the intersection before the background noise reappeared, slightly louder than before.

"Follow them." Optimus murmured as quietly as he could to Mirage, his voice partially covered by the reappearing noise.

The other bot nodded before pushing away from the diminutive shelter of the wall and joining the wake left behind by Shockwave's guards. Quietly, they followed the four mechs, remaining just inside the bubble of stillness that they left behind, their very presence clearing the way for Optimus and Mirage.

Optimus allowed himself a slight smirk. Now that was irony he could grow to enjoy.

As they followed Hound and his guards, the hallways gradually became less and less populated as they went deeper into Shockwave's nauseating house of horrors until finally they were the only ones present. Optimus could only assume that even the Decepticons didn't want to be lurking around down here where growls of fury and shrieks of agony could be heard through almost every closed door. No one was off limits for experiment fodder in Shockwave's eye it seemed.

They had just passed through a hallway that, besides the horrible, animal like screams, had been coated in a smell that Optimus could only liken to that of decay and death, when they lost sight of their guides. The two thickheaded Decepticons following Shockwave, along with the silent Hound, just turned the corner and were gone, leaving behind an empty round room with five different, locked, doors in their place.

"Blast." Mirage muttered as he looked between the doors. Unlike many of the Autobots, Mirage had come from the higher class of society, one with privilege and status. And even now when the caste system had been leveled by the great equalizer of war, his previous station still showed in his speech, which had stayed refined even when he swore it seemed, despite the rough times.

Still, looking around at the motionless, identical doors, Optimus couldn't help but agree with him.

"Now what?" Mirage asked quietly.

Optimus thought quickly, but thoroughly, as he inspected the different portals. "We'll be able to cover more ground if we split up." He pointed out.

Mirage must have temporarily forgotten his etiquette because he vented an irreverent sigh. "Much good it'll do us if we can't find each other again."

"True," Optimus admitted. If they had still had some way to communicate without alerting the Decepticons to their presence that didn't require whispering and hoping the other mech heard him, this wouldn't have been such a worry; but they didn't, so it was.

"We could just pick one." Mirage said with a shrug that showed he didn't really take that option in compete seriousness.

Optimus inwardly agreed. It left too much to chance. "We'll go through each one and double back after the first corridor if we don't find anything." He said instead. "At least then we'll have some idea of where each one goes." Hopefully.

The first revealed nothing beyond more experiment rooms, the second and third even less then that. The fourth just led to more twisted hallways that they didn't have time to get lost in. But the fifth led to a series of cell like rooms, the kind that prisoners were usually kept in.

"Figures," Mirage muttered. "It just had to be the last door possible."

Optimus motioned for silence and they surveyed the windows to each room without another sound. Most were empty, but a few held the remnants of extinguished prisoners, their remains wasted away into almost nothingness.

But there was nothing still living. At least, not until they were about halfway down the hall.

Movement at the far end of the hallway had both Autobots freezing in place. They waited in stillness as the two guards from before appeared at the end of the hall. Only now instead of Hound, two new prisoners were in tow.

As the unseen Optimus and Mirage watched, the guards shoved Sunstreaker into one room and Wheeljack into another on the other side of the hall and a little farther down. Then each Decepticon took up their position outside of each door.

_"Finally, something straight forward."_ Optimus thought as he looked over at Mirage and gave silent orders. The other Autobot gave a nod of understanding and quickly and quietly the two of them got into position next to the two guards.

They attacked almost at the same instant, or at least certainly close enough that the Decepticons didn't have time to realize what had happened before they fell lifeless to the floor.

Mirage dropped his shielding at Optimus signal. There wasn't much point to it now. The pervasive security would have caught their actions even if they hadn't seen them. And besides, it might be wise to let Wheeljack and Sunstreaker know that they were being rescued and not being dragged deeper into Shockwave's twisted tests.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you two." Wheeljack said when Optimus broke open the interrogation room door.

"I think I've got a pretty good idea." Optimus answered, immensely glad at the lack of alarm sirens. "Now where are the others?"

"Still in Shockwave's madhouse." Sunstreaker rumbled as he stepped out of his own cell.

"Show us." Optimus said simply.

Sunstreaker nodded sharply and quickly led them in the direction they had first come from. Fortunately Shockwave's moving maze hadn't been implemented this deep in his fortress, probably to keep his own subordinates from getting lost during their usual work.

At the edge of one hallway that looked much like the others, Sunstreaker stopped and signaled that this was it.

Optimus motioned Mirage and Sunstreaker to the far wall. And then he waited, listening for any tell tale signs of movement outside the vault door.

At first there was nothing, and then the sharp snap-hiss of the door opening, and someone coming out.

_"Make that several someones." _Optimus clarified as the sounds of more then one set of footsteps reached his auditory receptors.

He waited a klik more, waiting for the door to close to make it harder for the Decepticons to get out of the line of fire and so that no one else still inside the vault would see what was happening right away.

The door slid shut to the sound of moving air.

And the four Autobots moved.

Weapons on both sides raised accompanied to the sound of metal clicking against itself as targets were found without conscious thought. Then-

"Sunstreaker?"

Several bots blinked in confusion as they realized that the mechs in front of them weren't Decepticons, but their own comrades.

Sunstreaker lowered his gun away from the bots he had come to help rescue. "Sideswipe." He said in recognition and relief. Well, as much relief as anyone had heard him admit to in any case.

The twins clapped each other in a one armed embrace as Optimus did a head count. It was a miracle, but they were all here. _"And then some even," _he thought when he saw Ariah sticking close to a second organic that shared her azure eye color, although her skin was paler from lack of natural light making it easier for the dark discolorations of abuse and neglect to show themselves.

He quickly put aside his natural anger and revulsion at what Shockwave and Megatron had done to the organic child and concentrated on the matter at hand. "Right then," he said, getting even the twins' attention as he looked around the group of roughed up Autobots, "let's get out of here. Sunstreaker, you're on point. Lead us out of this Pit."

Sunstreaker nodded and turned back the way they had come, his sharp memory leading them through the twists and turns back towards the surface. The others kept wary optics out for the Decepticons they were sure to run across eventually, Optimus among them, while Hound, who was still having trouble walking straight, was helped by Mirage at the center of the group, Aria and her sister hurrying along at their feet.

The silence stretched on longer then Optimus had thought possible, Sunstreaker leading them around the more populated areas they had seen on the way down here rather then trying to go through them. It was so quiet in fact, that Optimus allowed himself to think that things had so far gone rather smoothly.

Of course, as soon as he had, a bright, flashing, warning light painted the white walls red and alarms started going off, filling the condensed hallway with their obnoxious clanging.

_"Why am I not surprised?"_ He thought to himself as he tightened his grip on his gun.

The Decepticons appeared to the sound of tromping feet, coming in small groups at first, but quickly coming out in numbers. After the third encounter with what felt like an entire squadron of them, Optimus actually felt thankful that there had been so many down in Shockwave's vault. True, getting out such a large number was as difficult as he had imagined – it was so much easier to remain unnoticed when there were fewer, and having none down there would definitely have been the best choice – but now they at least had a fighting chance against the Decepticons coming at them from around practically every corner.

Treads took a shot to the shoulder before Optimus took out the Decepticon that had marked him. That left only five standing now.

_"Better make that twelve."_ Optimus thought as another seven ran up, taking up positions that hid them from sight.

_"Mostly." _Optimus thought grimly as he shot down another Decepticon.

The firefight progressed with the Autobots continuing to hold their own with, so far, no fatalities as they kept the Decepticons at arm's length, not giving them a chance to use their well known brawn to crush the intruders.

The problem was that what the Decepticons lacked in marksmanship, they made up for in numbers. If more kept arriving, like they had steadily for the last few cycles, it would only be a matter of time before they overwhelmed the Autobots.

_"Which means it's time to break out the unexpected," _Optimus thought before shouting above the battle noise, "Wheeljack!" Across the way and farther down, the inventor looked up from behind the hallway debris he had been taking cover behind to see what Optimus wanted.

"Use it!" The Autobot leader yelled, trusting the other bot to know what he was talking about.

Wheeljack broke into a smile. He understood alright. And he was more then thrilled with the chance to test his new idea under battle circumstances.

Ducking down so that Sideswipe could take on the mottled green Decepticon Wheeljack had been shooting at, the inventor pulled a canister out of a storage compartment and with a press of his thumb, activated it.

Not bothering to waste any time, he hauled back and threw the capsule with as much force as he could. Aria looked up to see the silver metal object arc over her head, a high pitched whine following it. Her eyes stopped with Wheeljack's untested weapon when it clattered to the floor, solidly in the middle of the loosely clustered Decepticons.

She didn't know what it was, and even though she was about to find out in the very immediate future, Aria thought she didn't really want to know. And she certainly knew she didn't want to be anywhere near it when it went off.

"Hit the deck!" She screamed as she threw her sister bodily to the floor, covering Sera's golden head with her arms as she followed her to the floor. Around her, Aria could hear the gap in the gunfire that said most of the Autobots had done the same.

The whine of the canister rose higher, stringing out Aria's nerves.

And then the device met with the fate of most of Wheeljack's creations: it exploded.

But that was okay because this one was supposed to.

The whine rose so high that it barely registered on Aria's hearing. And then with a sharp _POP _sound, almost like a firecracker at New Years, the capsule exploded amongst the Decepticons, sending out jagged bits of shrapnel that impaled wall, armor, and sensitive wiring with equal prejudice. Aria dared to look from where she had pressed her face next to her sister's just in time to see a white shock of air follow close at the heels of the flying debris. It shot across the Decepticons almost like a paint bomb, painting the ones closest to it completely white. The ones standing on the outside of the canister's circle had only their sides or limbs that were closest to the explosion covered by the white cloud.

Except it wasn't paint, Aria saw as the opaque white color faded into a more translucent gray. If anything it looked like frost, or condensation. And as soon as it touched them, the Deceptions stopped moving. Unless it only covered part of them, then they started screaming as their limbs abruptly froze from Wheeljack's exploding cloud.

The sudden lack of weapons fire was almost a sound in and of itself, making plenty of way for the ringing to fill Aria's ears over the sound of shouting Decepticons and the pounding of her own heart. Distantly she could hear Sera's labored breathing too.

"Y-you all right?" Aria managed to ask, propping herself up on her elbows so Sera could move.

The younger girl lifted her head and stared at the frozen Decepticons down the hallway. "U-uh-huh," she whispered, staring wide eyed, "I," she swallowed, "I think so."

Aria nodded, the same sense of awe and shock clouding her mind as she caught sight of the frozen Decepticons too. They looked like statues.

"Are," Sera hesitated as she and Aria climbed to their feet, "Are they dead?" She asked sounding scared, although Aria wasn't sure if that was because there were dead things now standing a few yards away or at the fact that they might not be dead, only frozen.

Wheeljack shook his head as he and the other Autobots recovered their feet and quickly took stock of the damage done to them.

"Then what did you _do _to them?" Aria added as she looked at her old friend in shock. She had seen plenty of things go wrong with Wheeljack's creations, but the part that scared her a little was that she didn't think this one had gone wrong at all; it had done exactly what it was supposed to.

"I froze them," Wheeljack said, sounding as if it should be obvious.

Aria rolled her eyes as Sera swallowed hard and gave Wheeljack another, nervous look. "Well I can see _that_." Aria snapped lightly. "But with _what_?"

"Liquid nitrogen," he answered calmly, as if it was a perfectly reasonable response. "Although I guess technically by the time it was released it was nitrogen gas. Activation of the capsule quickly heats the liquid form, turning it into gas and building up enough pressure to explode the outer shell and releasing the gas which then coats everything around it and-"

Aria's waving hands cut Wheeljack off. "We know the rest!" She said quickly before he went into just as much detail on what the gas did to living things.

Wheeljack shrugged, not taking her abrupt words personally as Optimus Prime gave the order to move forward.

As they passed the frozen Decepticons, Wheeljack ran as many scans as he possibly could in the few seconds he had so he could study the effects his bomb had caused. "I wonder if they've frozen all the way through?" He idly muttered as he turned the corner after the bots ahead of him.

"Let's find out." Cliffjumper said, grinning predatorily. Then in what might have looked like an accident if he hadn't said anything, his foot bumped into the nearest Decepticon statue and sent it careening over. It hit the floor with the sound like a mirror smashing into stone. The Decepticon abruptly shattered into thousands of frosted chunks.

"Hey watch it!" Aria shouted up at Cliffjumper as one of the 3-D puzzle pieces bounced dangerously close to running into her with the force of a misshapen bowling bowl. "You nearly ran us over!"

The brick red mech gave her a pointed look. "'Us?'" he asked as he pointed a finger over Aria's shoulder.

Confused, Aria turned to see that Sera was no longer right behind her. Worried, she followed Cliffjumper's finger up above her head and then blinked in startled confusion.

"Sera?" She asked. "How'd you get up there?"

She was in Sideswipe's hand, kneeling quite comfortable as she peered back down at her sister. "He picked me up." She said simply.

Sideswipe finally noticed that Aria was staring at them. "Well it's not like I could leave her there to get smashed by that." He said giving another bit of Decepticon a kick.

The piece came to rest a few feet to Aria's right. She stared at it, then back up at Sideswipe.

"Seriously? What am I chopped liver?" She wanted to say.

But Hound's harsh whisper of, "Sideswipe, take out their optics," cut her off. It was probably for the best. It wasn't like any of the mechs in hearing distance would know what liver was or why it was chopped up anyway.

Sideswipe nodded and set Sera back down next to her sister before pulling what looked like an oversized needle out of his frame. As Aria watched, Sera sticking close to her side, he took the needle, which had to be as wide as her four fingers pressed together, and shoved it handle deep into the nearest security camera.

Aria and Sera flinched as more then the necessary amount of sparks flew from the camera. Smoke curled up delicately from the spy eye, but then, strangely enough, the wires leading away from the camera were charred black as something traveled down their lengths accompanied by a hissing sound, scorching the rest of the feed lines as it went.

"I take it that wasn't just a knife." Aria said as her eyes flicked from the moving scorch marks back to a smugly smirking Sideswipe.

"Nope," he answered, "it's a virus, cripples the cameras themselves so we don't have to worry about hitting the heart of the security system. Saves us a lot of trouble."

"Sweet," Aria said in appreciation as she gave the curdling wires another look.

"Much good it'll do us if we can't find the door and get through it," Cliffjumper added before gesturing at the surrounding hallways they were quickly running through, "I mean just look at this place. Empty. I'd bet my last ration of Energon that they're all heading out to block our exit."

It was true, Aria saw as they hurried down quiet hallways and empty corridors, most of the Decepticons were gone. When they arrived at the catwalk that overlooked the main hanger leading out of the complex, she saw why.

"Have I ever told you I really, greatly, and _extremely _hate it when you're right?" She whispered to Cliffjumper from where they hunkered down behind a stack of supply crates pressed up against the railing, one of many that lined the metal walk.

Cliffjumper's mouth twitched in a terribly small smirk, but he didn't say anything. Just watched the Decepticons standing in ranks in front of the door, and waited for orders.

Farther down, Wheeljack surreptitiously pointed down at the far left corner of the bay where a large pane of clear plastic separated a small room from the main hanger. "The controls for the door should be in there." He muttered, keeping his voice low.

Optimus nodded from where he knelt next to him, taking in the hanging walkway that passed over the boxy room and then eyed the twenty or so Decepticons blocking the door. "We can cut in from above. Wheeljack, you're with me. The rest of you, draw their attention."

Cliffjumper's savage grin almost made Aria feel sorry for the Decepticon. "Excellent." He muttered before running out from behind the crates and leaping over the rail down to the floor, the others following him. Battle cries suddenly filled the spacious, metal hanger bay.

"Aria, you and Sera stay with Hound." Optimus told her above the growing sound of the battle happening not ten feet from them when he saw she was following him.

"What?" Aria shouted in surprise.

But Optimus and Wheeljack were already leaving, crouching low to avoid the stray blasts from the bots below. "Just stay put Aria, there isn't time to argue." Hound said to her, his voice low and slower then usual.

Aria quickly turned between Hound leaning against the back wall with Sera standing close to his feet and Optimus and Wheeljack's retreating backs. For a moment she felt torn between wanting to help Optimus and the others and wanting to stay with her sister.

But her tearing indecision was cut short when she caught sight of the red dripping from her little sister's hand down to the floor.

"Sera!" She cried quietly, quickly crossing the small distance between them before gently grabbing her arm and turning it over to see the source of the bleeding. Her eyes went wide, then immediately narrowed when she saw the cut that slashed from the inside of Sera's elbow down to the middle of her palm. It was bleeding slowly, the blood bright red against Sera's stark white skin, but the part that really worried Aria was that just at the edges of the wound her skin was tinted green.

"What happened?" Aria asked, looking up at Sera. Her face was pale, but Aria couldn't tell if that was from blood loss or being kept underground for who knew how long.

Sera's blonde eyebrows twitched together in a wince as Aria turned her forearm to get a better look at the discoloration. "Shockwave was using one of his drones to give me some kind of medicine." Tight lines that had no business on the face of a young girl appeared at the corners of Sera's storm blue eyes as her mouth thinned. "I guess I moved too much."

Aria stared at her sister. She suddenly felt like crying. Or maybe screaming. Both sounded nice, however impractical with the rest of the Autobots fighting to get the door open and cleared.

_"That sick, depraved, heartless monster,"_ Aria thought as she swallowed back her tears, _"doing this to a little girl."_

Only…

"What?" Sera asked when she caught her sister staring at her in some mix of confusion and bewilderment.

"You look different." Aria murmured, too afraid to speak loudly, and not just because of the fighting beneath them.

Almost subconsciously, Sera reached up her other hand to touch her face, as if she could feel the aging that had taken place. "I know," she said softly, not meeting Aria's eyes for a moment.

But then she looked up and gave an empty half smile. "You've hardly changed at all." She said.

Aria swallowed hard and nodded. The burning behind her eyes was getting worse. She took a deep, shaky breath in through her mouth and then quickly looked up at Hound, although she didn't let go of Sera's injured hand. "H-how you holding up there Hound?" She asked, desperately seeking a distraction from a half realized truth she wasn't ready to face yet.

Hound's optics flashed down to meet hers before watching the area around them again. "Fine," he told her, and then he grinned crookedly, "'tis only a flesh wound." He said in what might have been an alien impersonation of a British accent. It was absolutely horrible.

But Aria laughed weakly. Hound had been insatiably curious about her home planet and her culture and, somehow, Monty Python had made its way into their conversations more then once. It had given them a good laugh when everything around them had been lacking in humor, although Aria _may _have abused their white rabbit and its nasty pointy teeth. Not that she was admitting anything.

Aria's watery laugh had just settled into an even weaker smile when the catwalk suddenly rocked beneath them, accompanied by the sound of something heavy landing nearby.

Aria spun, eyes going wide as Hound reached for his gun. But before either could finish their motion, a shot rang out, loud enough that Aria's ears started ringing.

Aria froze when she saw the mech crouching on the catwalk behind her. It was on its hands and knees and built like a ten foot thick brick wall. But strangely enough, though it smirked as though it knew it had them, it didn't move towards them. Instead a glowing, green fluid started spilling out between its chest armor.

Slowly, as if it was just as confused by the green fluid as Aria and Hound were, it reached a hand up and touched the semi-viscous liquid. It stared at it, trying to focus on it, and then the mech toppled over the rail and crashed to the floor. It did not get back up.

Heart thundering in her chest, Aria slowly turned around, still unsure of what had just happened. She gave a little shriek when she saw the pistol almost leveled at her nose.

"Nice shot." Hound told Sera, most of his surprise evaporating.

Stiffly, Sera lowered the gun, her hands shaking. The shaking in her hand traveled up her arm and spread through the rest of her body, threatening to make her knees give out from under her.

Aria carefully took her pistol back and put it back in her holster where it couldn't accidentally hurt anyone. Then she put her hands on Sera's upper arms as if to hold her up in one place.

"It's alright Sera," she murmured quickly, "it's alright. Since when did you get so fast anyway?" Aria asked, her plastered-on smile doing nothing to hide the shake in her voice. She hadn't even felt her gun leave its holster.

Sera reached a trembling hand up to her face, covering one eye as she stared at something Aria couldn't see. "I-I don't know," she said, voice cracking as the shaking grew worse, "I-I d-don't know."

Sera met Aria's eyes for what felt like the first time since they had found each other. Aria felt a shiver of fear shoot through her when she saw the pain, the unknowing, the terror, living in her sister's eyes. That cut on her arm was in no way the last of her wounds, but it was the least of them.

"_Aria_." Sera cried, her voice breaking into a thousand pieces.

Aria wrapped her arms around her sister and held her tight. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to _do_. God, what could she do?

Below them, a new sound suddenly appeared above the fray, making Aria focus on the present once again.

"Come on," she told Sera softly, gently moving blonde hair out of her face, "they've got the door open. Let's get out of here."

After a slight hesitation, Sera nodded once, a small bob of her head more then anything.

Optimus and Wheeljack appeared seconds later and between the two of them they got Hound and the two humans down to the main floor in one piece. Down there the sound of battle was overwhelming. The noise of gun and missile fire, mixed with the ever present shouting, bounced off the metal walls until it was a smothering din that nearly deafened Aria altogether.

As soon as the door opened, the fight spilled out into the open yard beyond. More Decepticons appeared, but the addition of Optimus, Hound, and Wheeljack to the Autobots helped to level the odds, especially once Optimus drew his sword and Wheeljack broke out the rest of his flash-freezing bombs.

But still, they had no hope of outnumbering the enemy on their own soil. Overall, things were going better then Optimus had dared to hope, but they still needed to get out of here, and soon. Prowl and his team were on their way and, through a handful of strategic retreats, the Autobots had managed to reach the edge of Kaon city, with all of the emptiness of the badlands stretching behind them and the potential for maneuverability it offered. Off in the near distance, Optimus caught sight of the dust clouds that meant Prowl and the others were almost there.

_"Now,"_ Optimus thought before half turning and shouting above the roar of the firefight, "Go! Get them out of here!"

Not needing to be told twice, Sideswipe reached out and grabbed the terrified Sera quaking at his feet and transformed, the little human girl appearing in his alt form's cab not two kliks later.

Even above the roar of weapons fire, Aria heard Sunstreaker's half cry of surprise at his brother's action, quickly followed by an irritated growl at leaving a fight unfinished.

"Come on!" He shouted.

Then before Aria could even realize he was shouting at her, he had grabbed her round the middle and nearly flattened her against his chest. Then there was a cacophony of shifting metal and Aria found herself sitting in a surprisingly comfortable alt-form.

_"I don't even want to _think _about what just happened."_ She would barely remember thinking later after she had recovered enough from the sudden g-forces throwing her back against Sunstreaker's interior to think anything at all.

But by then they were nothing but a cloud of dust hightailing it across the pitted surface of Cybertron after Sideswipe and Sera.


	24. Chapter 24: Revelations and Goodbyes

;D Hooray! Ring the bells! Sing praises! Shout it from the roof tops: Free at last! *starts singing* Free at last, free at last, Thank God almighty I am free at last!

Hee hee hee, no more finals for me~eee! And thanks for all the well wishing and the hug of sympathy from Autobot-Bre. Thanks, I needed that. Especially with the lackluster price I got for selling my textbooks back...*Sigh* stop that me. This is a celebratory chapter after all. No more school! At least not til next year...oh that sounds so nice. Not. For. A. Whole. Nother. Year. ;D

Right, enough ranting. Thanks go out to E-Raptor (I know exactly what you mean, I can't tell you how many stories I've read that have been nearly ruined by the lack of spell check; and thanks for noticing!), Birgitte LP (as always), Fk306 animelover (thanks again!), Nightmaskedfemme and her friends, demon of my heart and mind, Autobot-Bre, AlexisOptimus, Mercedes Wolfcry, FORD B, Vivian Hale, Kellie Witwicky, Azura Soul Reaver for their reviews, along with Kairi-loves-Sushi and a Wiccan for their left over excitement from last time. You all are just so great, and that includes the ones that didn't review too (although I must admit I always hope you will...) Now here's a chapter that will answer all of your questions. Well, okay, false advertising. It will answer _some _of your questions and, cough cough raise new ones cough. Hope you love it! ;)

And to NightMaskedFemme - I salute you back. *snap to* And I now see why most world dictator wannabes like this 'o thou mighty ruler' sort of language. It's very flattering. I guess now the question is does it match my 'taking over the world next Sunday' boots? n_n; And tell your friend - Rachel right? - that I'll see what I can do with Preceptor. I got an idea the minute you said something so...we will see how it turns out...

...

I Lost A World!

24 – Revelations and Goodbyes – 24

Aria's heart had still been racing when they reached the shelled out remains of what had used to be a mechasurgeon's garage in some now decimated, nameless city.

She hardly noticed. As soon as Sunstreaker had stopped, Aria jumped out and ran over to the still untransformed Sideswipe. "Sera!" She yelled, trying to pull open the silver mech's side door, but the crack between door and body were seamless enough that she couldn't even find it.

"Hey! Cut it out organic femme," Sideswipe's voice came from somewhere near the front of the silver alt-mode.

"Then let her out!" Aria hollered frantically, her voice bouncing eerily off the broken stones that surrounded them above and to all sides, shielding them from detection, both visually and from scans. "Or let me in!"

But Sideswipe refused. "Look at her," he said instead, "Softie's still in shock. Just give her a klik." He said with surprising gentleness.

His words finally soaked into Aria's adrenaline high brain and she stopped trying to scratch her way to Sera with her fingernails. Sideswipe was right. From what she could see through the slit-like windows, Sera was just staring out the front windshield, perfectly still except for her quick shallow breathing and the rapid, REM like, motion of her eyes. Her hands were clutched tight in her lap, knuckles white and fingers starting to turn even paler then before.

She looked completely shell shocked, as if everything was just now sinking in. The reality of her circumstance, her imprisonment, her rescue.

Aria swallowed hard. _"I was too late,"_ she thought as she sunk into an inward turmoil, _"I didn't save her. I just got her out. He _hurt_ her."_ She cried in her mind.

And that thought just about broke her heart into pieces too numerous to count.

"Sera?" Aria asked softly as she laid a hand flat against the window next to her sister, her voice strained.

Slowly, hesitantly, as if she was having trouble tearing her eyes away from a horror she could hardly comprehend, Sera looked over at her sister.

Now Sideswipe opened the door, carefully so as not to startle either girl. Large tears filled Sera's gray-blue eyes and dripped off her long lashes before she dove at her older sister. Without a word she wrapped her arms tight around Aria and buried her face in her shoulder as the older girl sat down next to her and hugged her as tightly as she could.

Then the tears finally came, for both of them, after years and years of being held back until they were safe. But this was as close to safe as they would ever come and they knew it.

"There, there," Aria eventually murmured through her tear laden voice as she gently smoothed her sister's dirty yellow hair, "It'll be alright now. We're together again. I promise I will never leave you like that again." She told Sera as she shook with sobs. "Ever." And then Aria kissed her sister's head and held her tight, rocking slightly in an attempt to comfort her weeping sister.

Sera was still crying when half of the remaining Autobots arrived at the makeshift bunker. Aria looked up briefly as they entered, but quickly turned back to Sera once she saw that apart from Hound's injured leg there were no, new, extensive injuries. Bluestreak and Wheeljack helped the wounded mech to the back wall so the former med caste could look over his injuries. While they did that, Prowl, Chromia, Ironhide and Sunstreaker did what they could to secure their safe point.

A few minutes after they arrived, Bluestreak wandered over to where Aria sat with Sera and an unusually sedate Sideswipe.

He sat next to them, cross legged in his bipedal form. He fidgeted slightly before turning towards Aria and asking softly, "How is she?"

"Leaking," Sideswipe answered first, sounding somewhat irritated at the question. "How do you think she's doing?"

Bluestreak nodded, looking a bit taken aback. "Oh, right, of course." He said, and then fell back to silently fidgeting.

An elevated noise cut through Bluestreak's awkward silence. From the angled reflection of Sideswipe's window Aria could see Hound waving away a hovering Wheeljack.

"Tend the girl first Wheeljack, I can wait that long. I'm not about to just keel over." The officer said, doing his best to shoo Wheeljack away without actually moving.

Wheeljack looked like he wanted to protest, but then nodded. Gathering what field tools he had, he stood and joined the four sitting quietly off to the side of the main space.

Aria gave Sera a gentle shake. "Hey Sera," she murmured softly, "Wheeljack's going to take a look at you okay? Make sure you're alright after-" she chocked on her words and had to swallow them down, "after what happened."

Slowly, Sera raised her head. Her eyes were red rimmed and puffy and her hair resembled a bird's nest now more then it's usual straight-ish length. Clumsily she wiped at her eyes with the back of a hand and sniffed loudly. "Wha?" She asked stuffily. "What do you mean?"

And then she caught sight of Wheeljack coming towards them, his hands filled with instruments she recognized.

She screamed, loud and high, and then shot back away from Aria and Sideswipe's open door. Her back met the other door with a loud thwack and she pressed herself against it like it was the only thing keeping her from shaking into a mass of quivering jelly.

"No! Nononono!" She said so fast her words eventually blended together. "No more! _Please!_ Don't let him do this! I swear I'll behave! I didn't do anything! I didn't!" She shrieked her words growing in volume as her frenzied panic grew.

"Sera!" Aria shouted, holding out her hands in a placating gesture. "Sera it's alright! He's a friend! I promise you're safe now!"

But no matter how loud she yelled Sera couldn't hear her.

"Alright, that's it," Sideswipe suddenly said, "everybody back up. You, organic, out of the alt-mode." He ordered, and then as if to prove his point, his frame shook Aria right out of the cab and onto the dusty ground.

"Sideswipe, what are you doing?" Sunstreaker asked, clearly as confused as the rest of them by his brother's actions.

"Not now bro." Sideswipe said, his attention clearly on Sera rather then his brother at the moment.

There was a quick shift of metal and the silver alt-form disappeared, Sideswipe's legged frame taking its place, Sera held carefully in his hands.

"Sera," he said firmly, "Sera it's alright. You're safe." He told her, his voice decidedly calm as he brought her close to his chest.

"I didn't do anything," she kept saying, tears streaming down her face, "I didn't do anything." She insisted.

"I know," he said sorrowfully, "I know you didn't Softie. But you're safe now. You see these bots here?" he asked as he gestured to the bots surrounding them, "theses are Autobots, like me. They would never hurt you." He told her.

For a moment Sera stared wide eyed at the bots, her eyes moving swiftly from one to the other as she slowly took in Sideswipe's words. "But-" Sera started, regaining some of her lucidity now.

"But nothing," Sideswipe cut her off. "You're just as safe with them as you are with me." But then he tilted his head and gave the girl a lopsided grin. "Well, almost," he added cheekily, "granted none of them are as good as I am, but they're pretty good."

"And just who do you think taught you all the good stuff you brat?" Ironhide asked sarcastically from across the way.

Sideswipe winked down at Sera once the older mech had turned away. "He's just jealous." He whispered to her.

A rock suddenly smacked into Sideswipe's head, showing just what Ironhide thought of that.

Sideswipe rubbed at his head and glared at the black mech, but Sera gave a short burst of strained, but still musical, laughter, so he decided not to retaliate.

"Now I know it's frightening after Shockwave, but Wheeljack here is a good guy, and he just wants to take a quick scan or two to make sure that Shockwave didn't do anything," Sideswipe's optics turned hard, "life threatening to you. And if you get too scared, you can just tell him to stop and he will. I promise that he won't hurt you."

Sera was quiet a moment. She looked over at Wheeljack, who was standing a good distance away to keep from frightening her again, and then back up at Sideswipe.

"Solemnly?" She asked him in a strange voice, raising her left hand and putting the right over her heart in something like a private signal.

Sideswipe raised his left hand, the one Sera wasn't sitting in. "Solemnly." He promised her.

Sera nodded slowly. "A-alright," she finally whispered.

Sideswipe gave her a nod of his own and then carefully lowered his hand so that she could step onto the ground. Aria was at her side in an instant, one arm wrapped around Sera's shoulders instead of an all out hug. Sera leaned close to her sister, arms wrapped around her middle as Wheeljack knelt down to explain that he was only going to run a basic scan to see if there was any leftover damage that may prove harmful in the future. Sera nodded when he was done.

"Just be quick before I lose my nerve please." She whispered as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Wheeljack nodded briefly.

"Done." He said a second later. "And I am glad to report that you are in remarkable health." He said, sounding slightly confused. He hadn't been expecting such good news.

But Sera didn't seem so surprised, or even very relieved. She gave a sour laugh instead as she stared down at the ground. "He was always very careful to put me back together again." She explained, her voice distant. "He didn't want to mess up his toy."

Nobody had any answer to that. Aria just held her sister closer.

Eventually Sera shook herself out of the lingering memories that haunted her and she looked around for the first time since they had gotten there.

"You," she looked up uncertainly, "you said your name was Wheelock?" She asked in a small voice.

Wheeljack looked unblinking at her, the glow of his optics creating a blue halo around the two girls in front of him. "No, it's Wheeljack. Although sometimes my friends just call me Jack." He told her, and then without needing any further prodding, introduced the rest of the bots she didn't know. "That's Prowl over there, he's second in command after Optimus Prime, the tall red and blue mech from earlier-"

"The one Aria was arguing with?" Sera asked.

Aria glowered lightly at her sister. "I was not arguing."

"You were so."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-huh."

"Yes," Wheeljack quickly cut in, looking back and forth between the two sisters. He had never seen Aria act so childishly before. Well, almost never. "That was him. The mech in black who was throwing things at Sideswipe is Ironhide, our weapons specialist, and then his femme Chromia. And then there's – Hound!" Wheeljack suddenly cried, somewhat startling the skittish human in front of him. Then before anyone could ask him what was wrong, he quickly got up and rushed over to Hound.

In all the excitement of trying to calm Sera down, Wheeljack had forgotten about Hound.

"Yep, that's Wheeljack for you." Bluestreak said as they watched Wheeljack tend the injured mech.

Sera looked over at the tall blue mech. "Will he be alright?"

Bluestreak blinked down at her. "Who Wheeljack? Sure, I mean, he's been like that for ages and he hasn't managed to blow himself up yet, quite the accomplishment if you ask me but then-"

"No, no," Sera somehow managed to get a word in edgewise, "I mean Hound. Isn't he hurt?"

"Oh," Bluestreak said looking back over at the two mechs out of the way by the back wall. "Yeah, he should be fine. Wheeljack may not be as good as Ratchet – who is? – but he knows what he's doing."

"Oh," Sera said, following Bluestreak's gaze to Hound and Wheeljack just in time to see the former jerk in surprise.

"Ow! Dangit Wheeljack, watch it!" Hound yelled as Wheeljack tried to keep Hound's injured leg still so he could at least try and get some emergency first aid on it.

Bluestreak gave a half shrug. "Generally." He amended.

Sera looked back up at the tall blue mech. "And who are you?" She asked.

"Oh! Sorry about that, I'm Bluestreak, and you have no idea how glad I am to see that you are online and functional Miss Aria's sister. She's been worried about you for a long time after all."

_"You have no idea."_ Aria thought but didn't say anything as she smiled at Sera.

The girls held tighter to each other a moment before Sera realized that there was one more name she didn't know.

"And who's that over there?" She asked pointing over at Sunstreaker where he stood keeping an optic on the surrounding landscape.

"Who him?" Bluestreak asked, pointing just to make sure they had the same mech in mind, although how he could be mistaken when there was only one stranger left, Aria didn't know. "That's just Sunny, Sideswipe's twin brother. Don't pay him any attention." He told her, grinning at the nickname.

Unfortunately, Sunstreaker heard him. "It's Sunstreaker! I am not Sunny!" The gold painted Autobot nearly yelled.

Sera shuddered at the angry shout and burrowed closer to Aria's side, taken by surprise by the mech's raised voice.

Aria glared up at the shouting mech and stepped in front of her sister, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well no duh." She snapped at him, "You've got about the un-sunniest disposition I've ever seen, without being downright mean that is." She said wrapping a meaningful arm around her sister. Sera decided to stay out of this one as she tried not to stare at the irritated gold mech.

Sunstreaker glared at the taller human, growling low in his chest, but Aria refused to be intimidated.

Instead she shrugged offhandedly. "It could be worse." She pointed out, not wanting to get into a shouting match with the irate mech right now.

Sunstreaker glared down at her. "How?" He demanded sourly.

A wicked idea came into Aria's head. Sunstreaker narrowed his optics suspiciously as the organic femme tried her best to hide her smile, but it still showed around the edges of her mouth. "They could just call you Streaker." She pointed out with a half hidden laugh.

Behind her, both Sera and Sideswipe bit back sudden laughter.

Across the way, Hound didn't bother to try and hide his. "She's got ya there Sunny." He yelled out. Then cussed again as Wheeljack told him to hold still.

The gold painted mech deflated into sulky glaring at Aria, but conceded the point, however grossly unhappy he was with his new nickname, or the way the rest of the bots were snickering at him mercilessly. Ironhide especially was having a hard time concentrating on what he was doing.

They were all quickly interrupted by the soft sounds of someone approaching their hideout. The laughter evaporated as guns reappeared in hands, or sometimes in place of them, and were leveled at the entrance of the bunker where the sounds were loudest.

But then a deep voice called out, "Stand down Autobots, it's just us."

A wave of relief went through the group as guns were lowered. A second later, the remaining six Autobots filed into the bunker, Optimus at the lead.

"Prime," Prowl greeted the Autobot leader, "no Decepticons snooping around so far. My guess is that they're waiting for us to come out into the open again when we head back to Iacon."

Optimus nodded and thought this over. Aria couldn't help but notice the way his blue eyes flicked towards her and Sera before moving to take in the rest of the busy Autobots filling the shelter.

"Then," he eventually said, slowly as if he was still thinking through the consequences his words would cause, "we will just not go to Iacon."

Every Autobot stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at their leader.

"What?" Prowl asked, voice flat.

"What are you talking about Prime?" Treads asked sounding as if he thought Optimus finally had gone and lost it.

"Now is the perfect time to go for the Space Bridge." Optimus Prime insisted quietly but firmly. "They'll expect us to head straight for Iacon, not the bridge." He was looking at Aria and Sera as he spoke now and the oldest human girl began to feel a great boulder of dread enter her stomach. It couldn't possibly be time to leave, could it?

Aria wasn't sure if that frightened or comforted her more.

Before Aria could snap out of her daze, Optimus turned to the others, meeting each of their optics as he went. "I won't make this a mandatory mission. Those that don't wish to join us can follow an indirect route back to Iacon with Hound and report to Alpha Trion what has happened."

"Hey!" Hound exclaimed, somewhat upset at not getting the chance to go with them to the Space Bridge.

Optimus Prime ignored him as he continued to speak to his listening bots. "I must keep a promise I made a very long time ago and I won't force anyone to help me. But if anyone cares to volunteer I won't turn you away either."

There was a thoughtful moment of stillness on the other bots' part.

Then, offering no explanation, Sideswipe stepped forward.

Ironhide and Chromia followed him. Then Bluestreak, Treads, and Cliffjumper stepped forward almost simultaneously.

"I'm going." Wheeljack announced with a slight nod of his head.

One by one they stepped forward, indicating their desire to go, or possibly just their cussed stubbornness to see this through to the end, until only one surly mech was left.

Finally, with a disgusted vent of air, Sunstreaker stepped forward too. "If we die because of this Sideswipe, I'm going to kill you." He grumbled to his brother.

Sideswipe just grinned.

"We're all with you Prime." Jazz told him before the twins could start their usual pointless arguing.

Optimus Prime looked around at the brave bots in front of him and nodded his thanks. All he said was, "We'll leave after moon set, before the sun is up."

There were a few nods to show they understood and then they all went back to what they had been doing before; tightening their limited security, seeing to injuries.

Aria was still staring into space.

"Aria? Aria what happened? What's going on? Aria!" Sera nearly whined as she shook her sister. "What's wrong with you?"

"What?" Aria managed to ask, barely turning her head. Then Sera's questions finally sunk into her mind and she shook herself out of her stupor enough to answer her. "They're, they're going to take us to the Space Bridge tomorrow. We're going to go home."

Sera stopped breathing for a second. Then she gasped, almost a sob, before a shaking smile pulled at her mouth. She covered it with one hand. "Oh God, we're actually going to go home? I can't believe it!" She said with a hysteric giggle.

Aria vaguely nodded. "Neither can I." She mumbled.

"You alright there Softie?" Sideswipe asked as he crouched down behind them.

Sera turned around, looking like she might start crying again at any moment. "Yes," she said breathily, "I'm finally going home!"

Sideswipe smiled somewhat sadly at her, but fondly all the same. "Good." He said, keeping it short.

Before he could say anything else, Wheeljack came over from where he had been talking quietly with Optimus. He was fidgeting nervously, rubbing his hands in front of his white and green chest, looking solely at the dirt as he knelt down in front of the humans.

Aria felt her eyebrows come together in a worried look. "What's wrong Wheeljack? Is something the matter with Hound?" It was all she could think of that would make him so nervous. But then why was he talking to them? Why not comm. Ratchet?

"Hmm? Oh, no. No. Hound is fine. Since he refuses to stay out of the way tomorrow, I've managed to patch up his leg. It should hold until Ratchet looks at him, as long as nobody else decides to stab him in the leg with a vibroblade. No, no. He's not the one I'm worried about."

Wheeljack's clarification, and nervous repetition, did nothing to reassure Aria. Unable to understand what was being said, Sera turned to Sideswipe and asked him what a Space Bridge was and how it would get them home.

"Then who are you worried about then?" Aria asked slowly.

Wheeljack's optics flashed to the dirt, then the surrounding rocks, then back down to his twitching hands, but never to Aria herself. Her suspicions mounted.

"I found something, well, possibly unsettling in my scan earlier…" he said hesitantly.

Aria felt her eyes grow wide and her pulse pound harder in her throat. "Sera-" she swallowed convulsively.

Wheeljack finally looked at her, hands waving wildly in front of him. "No! No, it, it had nothing to do with Miss Sera."

Now Aria was just confused. Anxious and afraid and very confused. "Then...me?" She asked, pointing a finger at her chest.

Wheeljack didn't answer her right away. "Do," he started tentatively, "do you remember what Shockwave said before he took Sunstreaker and me away? About you living past your time and putting your sister in stasis to keep her from," he paused, "from decaying?"

Aria's pulse turned hot now, as well as fast, and she distantly felt her hand ball into a fist at her side. "Yes." She answered sharply.

"Well," Wheeljack said, looking away from her again, "well I think what he meant," there was that pause again, "what he meant was that you age much more rapidly then us."

Aria was completely blindsided. She tilted her head and squinted up at Wheeljack. "What?" She asked, sure she was misunderstanding him. He was really worried about how old she was?

Wheeljack just nodded.

Aria took a moment to process this. "Well," she tried to think this through with some clarity, "how rapidly?"

Aria heard the inventor's intake of air. "You should've died from old age before Bumblebee and the others even received their first frames." He said quickly.

Aria literally reeled backwards. "But that was ages ago!

Wheeljack nodded, slower now. "Yes," he told her solemnly, "but even longer then that. It appears," Wheeljack said very slowly, "that the changes we made to your medicine when you first arrived here greatly slowed your aging process. Possibly by stellar cycles, mega-cycles." He told her as gently as he could.

Aria felt like she had just been hit by a truck. Numbly she dropped to the ground, her legs finally giving out. From what she had gathered over the time she had been here a stellar cycle was like a year. Mega-cycle was more like fifty of them.

Wheeljack was quickly becoming concerned by the look of stupefied shock on his long time friend's face. "Aria?" he asked timidly, "are you alright?"

Aria's mouth opened, but it was a few seconds before she managed to answer. "I, I think I need to lie down."

And then she let herself fall backwards onto the dirt.

The last things she heard was Sera's worried shout of, "Aria!" and Wheeljack's muttered, "Oh no, not again."

...

When Aria woke up next, she was sitting in Sideswipe's cab again. Sera was curled up tightly on the seat next to her, her head in Aria's lap, sleeping soundly. Outside was dark and still, those Autobots not on watch were getting what recharge they could.

"Glad to see you firing on all pistons again." Sideswipe's voice murmured through his internal comm. "Must've been some shock to lay you out like that."

Aria rubbed at her neck. It was stiff from its awkward position, most likely from when someone just shoved her in here because they didn't have the strength to actually lift her. "You have no idea." She murmured back.

Sera moved in her sleep, a small whine escaping through her nose before she settled deeper into the first real rest she had had in ages.

Aria stayed very still. She made sure Sera was still really asleep before carefully putting her hand on Sera's head, moving stray strands of shiny yellow hair out of her face.

Aria let herself smile. Her sister was safe. So what if they were over a hundred, or maybe hundreds, of years old? They were finally together again. At least now she knew why Sera looked like a teenager rather then her old nine-year-old self.

With a tangled up sigh, Aria leaned her head against the seat behind her. So many things to think about. It was all happening at once. First they were leaving, in like, a few hours, and then it turned out that what she had thought had only been a handful of years on this strange planet had actually been centuries and centuries. What kind of effect would this have on her lifespan now? What about after she left? Would it just snap back to normal, pick up where it left on, and let her go along her merry little way? Or was it already so built up in her system that she wouldn't start aging again for a long time? Long enough that her whole family would die from old age before she even looked thirty? Or maybe it would have the opposite effect and she would age rapidly to catch up with how old she had already lived? She would be nothing but dust in a few days, or maybe just minutes, or seconds. Or…or…

She just didn't know.

She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. Looking out the window, she saw the large frame of Optimus Prime sitting not too far away, his broad back to her.

As if he was reading her mind, Sideswipe suddenly said, "Go on, I can look after her right now," he told her, making sure to pitch his voice low so as not to wake Sera. "You just promise to take care of her once you two get back to your own planet. She's going to need you big time after this."

Aria nodded, at once touched by the mech's concern and anxious at the certainty in his words. Then, carefully, she slid Sera onto the seat bench and stiffly rose to her feet, murmuring her thanks. Sideswipe just quietly closed the door behind her.

Optimus was staring out at the surrounding ruins through a gap in the stone as Aria approached him. For a long moment she just stood close to his leg and stared out with him.

"How is she?" Optimus asked after a stretch of silence between them.

Aria nodded, but didn't tear her eyes away from the moonlit stone beyond them. "Good," she said, "ecstatic. She can't wait to get home."

Optimus nodded twice, slowly. "And you?" He asked eventually.

Aria sighed. "I don't know." She admitted, feeling the tangle of emotion in her chest pull tighter. "Of course I want to go home but…"

"But?" Optimus prodded after a moment where she didn't answer.

Aria looked up at him with lonely blue eyes. "But I would miss you guys." She murmured softly, her voice slightly strained.

Now it was Optimus' turn to sigh. "Ariah," he murmured quietly in his strong voice, "we will miss you deeply as well, but it is your home. It is where you belong."

Aria looked up at him, slightly panicked now. "Is it?" She asked desperately, "I've been here so long Optimus. Even longer then I thought since apparently I'm suddenly old, although I don't feel any different. How do you even know that Earth is still there? I mean, how long have I even _been_ here?"

Optimus hung his head and closed his optics briefly. "I do not know. We never were able to correlate our definitions of time. However I can tell you that the Space Bridge was originally meant to transport objects through space _and_ time. It is well within the realm of possibility that we can transport you back in time to the day you came here. Or it may even be that your time is in the future, and you originally traveled backwards in time to reach us." He told her, hoping it would help.

Aria nodded, clearly dazed. They fell back into another space of silence, each caught up in their own thoughts.

Then, suddenly-

"Come with me."

Optimus looked down at Aria, somewhat confused. "What?" He asked.

"Come with me." Aria said again as she looked up and met Optimus Prime's gaze. "To Earth. All of you. If we move in time like you say then the war won't have even started. Or it could already be over. I'm tired of watching you getting hurt or killed. Please," she begged, "come with me."

Optimus saw the loneliness and fear of leaving everything she had come to know and love swimming in her organic optics. And he wished he could have taken her offer; leave this life of war and save the Autobots by transporting them to a whole new planet where they could start over.

But he also knew he couldn't.

"Thank you Ariah, but no. We cannot leave. Cybertron is our home like Earth is yours. We must fight against the evil trying to consume her, consume us all. We can't let Megatron destroy it."

Aria's face crumpled under his words and she didn't bother to hide it. After all, he knew her better then anyone, even Sera. He would have seen it anyway.

It tore at his spark the way the first few tears spilled down her face, so he leaned down and nudged her gently with a finger.

"Please do not despair Ariah, it will be alright. We will see each other again. Do not doubt it." He told her, just knowing it was true.

Aria sniffed and rubbed at her eyes with the back of a hand. "But how can you be so sure?" She asked, voice raw.

Optimus smiled gently at her. "Because I can feel it, right down to my core." He told her, placing a fist to the armor just over his spark.

Aria nodded and sniffed again. "Will you at least tell 'Bee that I love him? And that I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to say goodbye in person." She asked him.

Optimus inclined his head. "Of course."

Another tear coursed down Aria's cheek. Optimus saw her lower lip start to tremble. "I-I'm going to miss you so much." She said in a chocked off voice.

He knew how she felt. "I will miss you too Ariah." He said. And then he leaned down as far as he could, his chin almost touching the ground, and wrapped a large hand around the small organic that had been his friend for vorns too numerous for him to count.

Aria leaned forward and spread her arms as far as she could, although she couldn't possibly wrap them around his face, and pressed herself against his cheek in as close to a hug as she could manage.

...

What they didn't know was that Bumblebee wasn't safe back at Iacon. He couldn't even see the city anymore, just the dim glow of its lights out on the horizon. It had taken him almost all day and night, but he had made it. He was here. This was where the bad thing would happen.

He had to stop it, he knew he did. If he didn't, then nothing would ever be alright ever again. He could already feel it, the bad thing in the future trying to tear a hole so big in his spark that it would break. He couldn't stand it.

But there was nothing he could do right now. The bad thing wasn't here yet. It wouldn't be until tomorrow.

Bumblebee felt his frame slow, his feet heavy from lack of recharge. He was so tired. He looked at the empty landscape around him and after some searching, found a piece of curved metal that would hide him from immediate sight. He got down on all fours and crawled under it before curling up tightly into a ball. He fell into a fitful recharge almost immediately.

Behind and beyond him, the constant light of the Space Bridge threw long, distorted shadows all across the landscape that was devoid of life except or the tiny, yellow youngling.


	25. Chapter 25: Battle at the Space Bridge

XD Oo! Such a glorious response to the last chapter. Yay! I really loved writing that last one. It just demanded to be written. I thank you all!

And now for the bad news...

So ah, we'll go with the 'not as bad as the other thing' news. I had to wake up at freaking 5:45 in the morning to take my friend to Ben Taub hospital. I _hate_ that place. It's dirty, and cramped, and sickly, and they take _FOREVER_. Ooooo, I hate it I hate it I hate.

*pant pant grr* Okay, okay, sorry about that. Sleep deprivation was starting to get me, but I'm all better now. Whew.

And now for the 'bad news you will actually care about'

Okay, just think I ought to warn you now, so it doesn't come as a complete shock and blind side you...there are only three chapters left in the story including this one! Eep! *runs and hides in case of explosive outbursts* Just know that it'll be okay, breathe in and out, in and out...just also beware that I'm not coming out from here until I see what everyone is thinking about this. *ducks behind nearest laptop*

Hope you like this next cha~apter... *raises eyebrows in a slightly evil fashion* he he he...

...

25 – The Battle at the Space Bridge – 25

They rode to the Space Bridge in complete silence. Around them the planet was dark and still, restlessly sleeping in the temporary quiet between battles. Not a ray of light from sun or either of the two moons showed in the gray landscape around them. As she sat in Sideswipe's cab, holding tight to Sera next to her, Aria could feel the tense atmosphere growing tighter and tighter around her like a noose as they grew closer to their final destination. The thought of going home still struck a tangled chord within her, but she saw no other way. She couldn't just abandon Sera, especially after what she had just gone through. And she didn't think Sera could stand it here, even among the Autobots. The threat of Shockwave was just too much for her.

Eventually they reached their destination and the group stopped out of sight behind one of the slight rises that marked the end of the neutral territory that surrounded the Space Bridge – the buffer zone between Autobot held Iacon and the much larger Decepticon controlled space – and the beginning of the wastelands that had existed even before the war.

_"This is it."_ Aria thought as she climbed out and looked over at the beam of brilliant light that was their ticket home. _"Most likely anyway."_

Above her Optimus Prime sent Prowl and Bluestreak to scout out the area ahead of them with a nod and a gesture. Then he looked down at her small figure standing beneath him.

Aria swallowed hard. "I-I guess this is goodbye then Optimus." Aria said, managing to keep her voice level.

But the tall mech just smiled down gently at her. "Not forever Ariah, only until we meet again."

Aria felt her mouth slide up at one corner, a small little ball of peace settling in her stomach despite all of the doubt and unease already there. "Yes." She said, desperately clinging to his firm belief, willing it to be true.

"Now remember Aria," Wheeljack burst in, sounding nervous, "the Space Bridge works at the atomic level so it's pretty much going to take you apart and put you back together again in nanokliks, so when you get back home it might be prudent to find an emergency center, just to make sure. And if they find any low level radiation coming from you, that's normal. It should be gone in a few orbits. And try not to-"

Aria smiled up at the clumsy white and green inventor. "Aw I'm going to miss you too Wheeljack." She cut him off gently. "I'll try and remember all that if _you_ make sure to try and keep yourself in one piece."

Wheeljack nodded. "Alright."

"Make sure to take lots of pictures." Was all Hound told her by way of goodbye before she turned to Ironhide and Chromia to tell them to at least try and be good, "I want to know everything you've been doing when we finally catch up to you again."

On her other side Sera was saying her goodbyes as well, except she didn't bother to hide her tears as she wrapped her thin arms around as much of Sideswipe as she could. She sniffed as she stepped away. "I'm gonna miss you Sides'." She told him weepily.

"I know," Sideswipe said, missing his usual upbeat attitude, "I'm gonna miss you too Softie. You just make sure to take care of yourself once you get back. And if any of your organic mechs start getting out of hand you just remember to write their names down and I'll sort them out for you later."

Sera laughed weakly as she wiped her tears away. "I'll do that." She promised before timidly turning to Sunstreaker standing next to his brother.

"Goodbye Sunny," Sera said hesitantly, not sure if she should say anything at all.

Sunstreaker gave her a sideways glare, but didn't say anything about the name. "Just don't get shot." He grumbled.

Sera took it as Sunstreaker speak for 'good luck' and managed to smile at him. "I'll try."

Prowl and Bluestreak reappeared then, cutting off the girls' goodbyes to the mechs that had been their friends for longer then they could think to count.

"Make sure to tell everyone else I said good bye and I'll miss them." Aria whispered up at Optimus once Prowl had given him the all clear.

"Alright," Optimus nodded, then looked up, his mind turning to what he felt sure would be a coming battle. The Decepticons were not that easily fooled after all. "The goal is to get them to the Space Bridge and get out as fast as possible. No drawn out fighting if it can be helped."

The other bots nodded sharply.

"And Ariah," Optimus looked down at the little organic, "this is no longer your fight. You just get to the bridge with your sister. We'll take care of the rest."

Aria looked up at him doubtfully, but nodded all the same. "Fine."

With everything settled, the Autobots split up into their two teams, Prowl's providing cover as Optimus and his made a dash for the Space Bridge, Aria and Sera at their center.

They were barely halfway there, square in the middle of the open land surrounding the Space Bridge, when Decepticons appeared and opened fire. Next to her, Sera screamed as the first shots flew over their heads, striking dirt and armor for the most part, thankfully doing no real damage to the Autobots protection them.

Prowl's detachment returned fire instantly, but the handful of Decepticons Aria saw had taken shelter amid the ruins of the station that had once monitored and controlled the Space Bridge, making them difficult to hit. Off in the distance behind the ruins though, Aria saw the tell tale sign of dust clouds as something – probably lots of somethings – headed their way very, very fast.

"More incoming!" Ironhide suddenly shouted.

_"And how,"_ Aria found herself thinking as what looked like a wave of Decepticon alt-modes suddenly spilled in ordered ranks over the far ridgeline, all brimming with what Aria could only think to call instruments of torture. Fortunately, they had little in the way of long range weaponry, giving the Autobots a slight advantage, at least until the Decepticons got too close and hand to hand combat erupted around the two human girls' heads.

Aria shoved Sera down and covered her gold head with her torso, keeping an arm around Sera's back to at least try and keep her out of danger's way. She chanced a look up to see what was happening around them and felt her mouth drop open at what she saw. It wasn't just a bunch of rank and file Decepticons attacking them now. Megatron himself was there! Grinning madly as he joined the melee, a giant among the other ants.

Aria gave a small shriek and threw Sera and herself to the ground as one of Ironhide's cannon blasts soared directly over them before crashing through an unfortunate Decepticon's chest.

"To the bridge!" The aggressive mech yelled at the girls, "Go!"

Aria didn't bother to nod, just grabbed her sister under the arms and hoisted her up, dragging Sera along behind her as she dashed for the Space Bridge, ducking under rifle slugs and swinging arms or legs as she dashed haphazardly through the all out mêlée. Sera screamed once when one of the smaller Decepticons crashed to the ground in front of them after being thrown by Hound, making her and Aria jerk to a stop, but otherwise she was silent as Aria pulled her to the blinding light that she remembered from their first trip here.

Finally they reached the edge of the Space Bridge.

Just in time for it to fizzle out with a giant 'doom', like an enormous light going out.

"Damn," Aria swore under her breath, panting too hard to shout above the roar surrounding her.

"Aria," Sera used the temporary lull space around them to speak, "Aria are you sure this is safe?" She asked, her voice rising in anxiety. "I mean, how do you know we won't just end up somewhere else? Somewhere _worse_?" She demanded, looking like she was about to cry.

Aria had wondered that too last night. "I don't know," she told her sister honestly, "but it's the only choice we've got." She pointed out.

The Space Bridge chose that moment to reignite, making both girls shield their eyes from its intense light. They had no more time to think about this; it was now or never. Aria looked over at Sera. Sera's blue-gray eyes flashed between her sister's face and the light beyond her shoulder. Then she nodded quickly.

Aria swallowed hard, her tongue sticking uncomfortably to the roof of her mouth, feeling like it was made of lead. "Let's go then." She murmured.

She ushered Sera over the outer railing first, then followed her across the dead space that surrounded the bright light of the bridge. No bot dared to get this close to the portal, afraid of where it would send them if they accidentally stumbled across its event horizon. Aria was more afraid of where it might _not_ send them.

Her eyes watered more the closer they got. By the time they were standing next to the low base that held the different, glowing pillars, Aria's eyes felt like they were on fire. Maybe that was why she glanced back, or maybe she just couldn't leave without one last look at the place that had been as much a home to her as her parent's house had been. She almost regretted it when she saw the chaos, the terrifying action, that was taking place behind her, especially knowing that it was all for her sake, so she and Sera could get away.

But then something even more terrifying than the fighting caught her eye. A small, speck of yellow standing, terrified, amidst the chaos, turning in circles as if he was looking for something, or maybe a way out of the madness that before he had only heard of.

"Bumblebee!" She screamed.

_"But what is he doing here?" _She shouted in her head.

Before Aria could register her heart stopping fear, someone else noticed Bumblebee's presence.

The little youngling started to shake in terror when he saw Megatron himself start to approach him.

The unpainted mech approached the youngling with slow, sure steps, as if he knew no one could even hope to stop him. He was grinning with an unholy, savage glee that made Bumblebee shake where he stood, unable to move away.

When he was barely a few yards away, Megatron laughed loud enough to be heard by everyone on the battlefield. "Well Prime, it appears that you are better at keeping secrets then I had given you credit for." He said, but Aria knew that Optimus hadn't heard him. Megatron hadn't meant for him to hear him that time. "Much good that they did this one in the end."

Aria barely understood his harsh words, but she gasped in terror when she did. He was going to kill her Bumblebee!

"I have to help him!" Aria turned toward her sister. "I can't just leave him!" She yelled frantically.

For a moment Sera didn't move, just looked wildly around them, at Bumblebee and Megatron. She knew the mech possibly better then anyone else here. She knew what he was planning, what would happen if he got any closer to that small, yellow bot.

Sera nodded frantically, understanding what Aria meant to do but still terrified at the thought of her older sister jumping into that fray.

Aria's face suddenly crumpled around the edges. "Oh God Sera, I love you more then anything!" Aria yelled over the cacophony as she flung her arms quickly around Sera's shoulders. "And I hope that one day you'll forgive me."

Now Sera felt scared. "For what?" She shouted into Aria's ear.

Aria gathered her courage in a breath. Then she stepped back and shoved the diary that she had just pulled out of her back pocket at her sister. Sera grabbed it instinctively, but it wasn't enough to keep her from falling backwards-

And into the light of the Space Bridge.

"Ari-!" Sera tried to scream, her voice a high pitched slash through the din.

But her voice was abruptly cut off as the Space Bridge swallowed her up.

For the space of a heartbeat, Aria stared at the afterimage of her sister. "I'm sorry Sera," she whispered hoarsely. But Sera couldn't hear her anymore.

So Aria turned around and bolted across the blank space surrounding the bridge, her feet pounding against the hard packed dirt, sending shockwaves up her legs through the balls of her feet.

_ "Don't let it happen!" _She screamed in her head. _"Don't let it happen! I can't lose them both!" _She begged to anyone that was bothering to listen to her. Through her own volition, she had probably just lost her sister forever so that Sera could be safe; she couldn't lose her _di di_ too.

Not fifteen feet away but drawing closer, Bee stood frozen amongst the debris and whorl of the fighting. Inwardly, he knew he should move, but for some reason all he could do was stand there in horror as the feared Megatron - every one of the Autobot younglings' nightmare turned real - tightened his grip on his still lowered rifle.

Seeing the look of frozen horror on the youngling's face, the nightmarish mech smiled, showing jagged teeth.

A gauntleted fist suddenly collided with Megatron's head, making him reel slightly. Aria was disappointed to see that he looked more shocked then hurt.

"Back off the youngling!" The mech that had hit Megatron yelled, imposing himself between the still Megatron and the shivering Bumblebee.

"Treads!" Bumblebee yelled in relief.

"Just stay right there kid," Treads told Bumblebee over his shoulder, never taking his optics off of Megatron, "and stay behind me."

'Bee nodded and huddled far enough behind Tread's massive legs to give him room to maneuver.

Megatron bared his teeth and growled at Treads. "Get out of my way Autobot. Before your soft spark gets you killed."

Treads had the audacity to laugh, although it was short. "Yeah? Better to have a soft spark then none at all." He shot back.

Megatron stopped wasting his time with words. He rushed forward, cocking his free arm back in a punch that would have socked Treads low in the torso if he hadn't gone to one knee and blocked it with his stronger shoulder.

"You weren't the only one who fought in those pits Megatron." Treads ground out as the two mechs pushed against each other, fighting for the upper hand.

"Perhaps," Megatron answered him, his voice much more level despite the strain on his frame, "but I'm the one that never lost."

His fist appeared from nowhere to smash into the underside of Treads' chin, flinging him up so that his feet left the ground.

Then before anyone even knew what was going on, Megatron pulled up his rifle and fired directly into Treads' chest, obliterating his spark in a great flash of fire.

Treads fell back to the ground with a horrible crunch and then was perfectly still.

"Do you see that impossible youngling?" Megatron asked, pointing at Tread's still frame as he advanced on Bumblebee again. The little youngling was already staring at the body in horror. "Death is easy. Nothing more than a bite of pain and you will be with all the others like you. Well," he shrugged one massive shoulder, "that is what some think. Personally I believe that death is nothingness. But if that is true then you will hardly notice it now will you?"

Bumblebee shook his head automatically, barely managing to tear his optics away from the still frame of a mech that had taken care of him almost as often as Optimus and Aria had, but not in agreement. He didn't want to be swallowed up by nothingness. Being alone was scary. He didn't want to go.

But Megatron wasn't about to give him a choice in the matter.

Megatron stopped while there was still space enough to fire between him and the youngling. Then he raised his monster of a rifle and leveled his sights on the youngling's chest, just over his spark.

"Hold still boy and this will be over quickly." Megatron told him.

"NO!" Aria shrieked, seeing what he was about to do. She tried to run faster, willing the distance between her and 'Bee to vanish, but her feet felt like they were being sucked in by wet sand no matter how fast she pushed herself. "Bumblebee!" She screamed, reaching out to him pleadingly.

Then Megatron fired.

'Bee shut his eyes.

Aria _jumped_…

…and crashed into the frozen Bumblebee with enough force to send him toppling to the ground.

She made it split seconds before Megatron's shot ripped through her heart.

...

Optimus had just finished with a particularly stubborn Decepticon when he heard the noise. A terrible, high pitched cry that cut through his auditory systems and sent a fearful shudder down his back. He turned, searching for the source of such a horrible, spark clenching sound, and saw to his abject horror Megatron aiming his long rifle at a familiar speck of yellow kneeling on the battlefield.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus yelled over the roar of the fight still surrounding him. He didn't have time to wonder what the little youngling was doing here of all places as he rushed forward, smashing aside the unfortunate Decepticons that tried to get between him and his youngling.

But he was too late. There was a tremendous blast as Megatron fired on the little mech and Optimus nearly felt his spark implode with terror.

He saw Bumblebee fall and a wave of fury overtook him. Optimus locked his optics on the still grinning Megatron and with a tremendous roar, launched himself at the other mech, taking him by surprise with his unexpected ferocity.

The two fell in a tangle to the ground, rolling as each tried to gain the upper ground. Optimus rammed his fist into Megatron's head, snapping it back before the Decepticon leader had a chance to get his guard up. But Megatron only laughed, as if he was just as exhilarated getting punched repeatedly in the face as if he was the one doing the punching.

"Is that all you've got for me Prime?" Megatron demanded as he rolled again, pinning Optimus with his weight so he could deliver his own sharp knuckled blows. "I felt worse in the gladiatorial pits!" He goaded.

Optimus growled before delivering a punch so strong that it bodily knocked Megatron back off of him to the ground. He was sick and tired of hearing about those slaggin' pits.

"Is that more to your liking Megatron?" Optimus rumbled as he regained his feet, he and Megatron falling into uneasy circling.

Megatron reached an experimental hand up to his faceplate where Optimus had struck him. "Much Prime," he answered in a low growl as he matched Optimus' steps, "this is how real warriors fight after all. One on one with no distractions."

"And do real warriors also murder innocent younglings in cold blood?" Optimus demanded, his rage beginning to get the best of him again.

Megatron had the audacity to throw back his head and laugh. "Ha! Is that all it takes to get your fluids boiling Prime? A child's death?"

"Yes," Optimus growled.

"And do you think he is the first?" Megatron suddenly snarled. "What about before the war when those unfortunate younglings assigned to castes such as mine? Working in industrial sectors before being scrapped for parts when they were killed by hard labor? Where were you then in your outrage?" He demanded.

Optimus wasn't fooled. Megatron no more cared about the younglings killed before the war then he did about the caste system. It was just another easy argument against the fact that he had been shoved into the lowest levels of society. Optimus distantly wondered if Megatron had been put in a high caste instead, would he still have started this revolution?

He doubted it.

"Tell me Megatron, how many of them did you save from that life by instigating this war?" Optimus asked his own question.

Megatron snarled at him. They rushed together again, Optimus drawing his sword at the last moment and catching Megatron across the side. The other mech shouted in fury at having his fluids drawn first in their fight, then turned his burning optics on Optimus, who had stepped back to get away from too close contact with Megatron.

Megatron drew his own weapon, a blade about half as long as Optimus', but with a serrated edge that would cut deeper with one each successive edge. They clashed together once, twice, three times before Megatron snuck past Optimus' guard and caught him across the back, but it was only a shallow blow. Optimus moved just enough before the blade came down to keep it from severing his spinal column instead.

Optimus knocked Megatron back with an uppercut that caught him square under his pointed chin. He readjusted his two handed grip on his sword as Megatron circled him again, taking stock of his injuries.

"I knew you would be here Prime," Megatron said coolly as they moved, always keeping their opponent squarely in front of them. "Of course you came here. It was a simple matter of deduction. You're not the only one that's spent a lot of time with an organic after all. Where else would you go with them, especially since you're soft enough to try and send them back in the first place?

"But what I do not understand Prime, is the organic itself." Megatron kept on talking, his optics never leaving Optimus' as they warily faced each other, each looking for a way past the other's guard. "Why risk your bots just to rescue some organic creature? Do they accomplish something as a matched set that they cannot do apart?" He asked snidely.

Optimus knew he was only trying to distract him from the battle, but that didn't stop him from answering. "Do you know what your problem is Megatron?" He asked conversationally, although his stance was anything but.

"What?" Megatron drawled.

"You see everything as weapons. Did it never occur to you that she was simply a lost little girl, afraid and alone, wanting nothing more then to go home?"

Megatron swung, but it was not with his full strength. He was simply testing Optimus' defenses. Their blades met in the middle and then fell away.

"You still didn't answer my question Prime. Tell me what is so important about some nameless organic?" He asked again.

Optimus narrowed his optics at his opponent. "Her name is Sera. And you wouldn't understand."

That did it. Megatron growled and leapt forward, swinging his blade straight downward towards Optimus' head. Optimus got his sword up to block it, but he wasn't quick enough to stop Megatron from wrenching away his sword with his own jagged blade and throwing it away from him.

Optimus shouted as Megatron's blade sliced into his side, biting deep. Fortunately he was able to shove the other mech away, Megatron losing his grip on his own blade in the process.

Megatron was the one smiling though, as Optimus carefully drew the serrated blade out of his side.

"Sharp teeth, aren't they?" He asked sarcastically.

Optimus didn't answer, just glared at him and growled as he turned Megatron's sword into a ready position, the needle sharp tip of the blade pointed steadily at Megatron's chest.

Megatron raised an optic ridge at him. "Really Prime? You never struck me as someone to use a mech's own sword against him."

Optimus didn't let that stop him from darting forward and taking a broad swing at Megatron's torso. The Decepticon leapt back, sneaking a fist past Optimus' swing that met the red and blue mech full in the chest.

Optimus rolled with the punch and quickly brought the jagged blade down on Megatron's lower back in a successful swing. Then he drove the sword through Megatron's foot, hit the mech in the first side wound he had inflicted and then rolled away before the mech could retaliate.

Megatron roared with the pain, no longer liking the way this fight was going. He growled low in his chest as he went to one knee and after making sure to get a good grip on the hilt, yanked the rough edged sword out of his foot in one pull.

His spark was flickering in a sure sign of fluid depravation as he turned back to Optimus, who was crouched down several feet away, watching him.

"Very clever Prime." Megatron rasped. "Quite unexpected. Who knew a librarian such as yourself knew how to fight?"

"Who knew a former gladiator could be struck down with his own blade?" Optimus retaliated.

Megatron somehow managed to grimace and glare at the same time. Optimus also noticed that he was surreptitiously watching the battle around them. The tides had changed, Optimus saw, the Autobots slowly gaining the upper hand as Prowl and his sharpshooters picked off the Decepticons from farther back, while the more experienced hand to hand fighters held them off at the front line. If things didn't change soon then the Decepticons would either be forced to retreat or surrender.

Then, strangely enough, Optimus saw Megatron's optics flicker skyward, as if he was looking for something that should have been there already.

"Starscream." Megatron growled furiously.

_"The Seekers,"_ Optimus realized. He had noticed their absence earlier, but apparently it was some kind of mistake, or grab for power on Starscream's part. If Megatron died in battle the flyer would find himself in the coveted position of new leader of the Decepticons. A place that everyone, especially Megatron, knew the Seeker commander wanted more then anything.

Optimus just thanked Primus that Starscream was a power hungry glitch that had inadvertently just saved the Autobots' lives.

"Something wrong Megatron?" Optimus asked causally.

Megatron glowered at his counterpart. "Decepticons!" He roared over the lingering sound of battle, "fall back! Enjoy burying your youngling Prime." Megatron shot before transforming into his well shielded, winged alt-mode and racing away up into the atmosphere, well out of range of Autobot weapons.

Optimus watched him go, a heavy weight inside him threatening to swallow his spark and put it out right then and there.

"Bumblebee," he murmured quietly.

"Optimus!"

Optimus' optics flew wide open. _"Impossible,"_ he thought, spinning around all the same.

But impossible or not, Bumblebee was still there, sitting up and fully functional.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus yelled quickly running over to the youngling, thanking Primus in every way he could think of that his youngling was still alive after being shot at by Megatron.

But his relief was short lived.

It was only as he got closer that he saw the limp form Bumblebee held in his arms and the splash of red she had left on his frame.

"Primus," Optimus whispered in sorrow and shock as he took in the scene, "Ariah."

"She won't wake up!" Bumblebee cried hysterically. "She won't wake up Optimus! Why won't _jie mei _wake up?"

Optimus was unversed in organic physiology, but he thought that Ariah should not have lost that much internal fluid. He also noticed that her pump had stopped, what little there was left of it. Megatron's blast must have shredded half of it at the very least.

Without thinking he reached out a finger and delivered a controlled electric shock into Ariah's chest cavity.

The organic leapt without waking, the jolt shocking her nerves into automatic motion, including the remains of her pump.

"Bumblebee, press down here, hard." Optimus instructed the youngling, placing his hands over the hole in Ariah's chest, showing him what to do. "Now don't let go no matter what, alright?"

Bumblebee nodded, frightened.

"Good, now I'm going to shock Ariah, so you might feel something, like a little zap, but you still mustn't let go of her."

Bumblebee nodded again.

Optimus copied him, then quickly picked 'Bee up and held him close to his chest armor to keep him from banging against his legs. "Prowl! Ariah's hurt. I'm taking her back to Iacon. See to the others." He called out.

Prowl nodded. "We'll see you there." He told him.

Without another word, Optimus began running, feeding electric jolts into Ariah's body at controlled intervals, forcing her internal fluids to move and her lungs to inflate and deflate regularly.

Against his neck, Bumblebee whimpered, but didn't let up from pressing against his sister's chest wound.

_"Hold on Ariah," _Optimus pleaded as he ran across the land around the Space Bridge, his long legged gait eating up the distance between them and Iacon, _"just hold on a little longer. We're almost there."_


	26. Chapter 26: Death's Doors

*Passes out from sheer amazement* ^-.-^ Mrs. Mittens goes to get the smelling salts.

O.O Whoa! I'm too distracted by all those exciting reviews to say anything clever, or anything at all really... All I want to do right now is *HAPPY DANCING!* n_n; ha ha, sorry. I'm just so amazed, and excited, and honored! Thank you, thank you! XD

So I don't want to talk too much, since you probably just want to get to the good stuffs, but I did want to say real quick that I have started a blog that you may enjoy because I was going to include bits and pieces of Aria's world up there. Now, granted it isn't much yet, but hey, if you want to learn more about it, then I'm going to put something up on my profile page here in little bit. Maybe it'll be up there by the end of the day? We'll see.

So I luvs you all, but now onto the super good stuffs!

...

26 – Death's Doors – 26

"Ratchet!" Optimus yelled as soon as he reached the Autobot medical facility. "RATCHET!"

The medic ran into the room at the panic in Optimus Prime's voice. He had never heard this much outright fear before from the cool Autobot leader. "What? What is it?" He asked quickly as he reached them.

Optimus knelt down and discharged his cargo. Ratchet gasped when he saw the red splattered Bumblebee and the unconscious Aria.

"Dear Primus," the older medic murmured in shock. "What happened to her?" he asked, already working to learn the full extent of what Ariah was experiencing and what he could do to help her.

"Megatron." Optimus answered simply.

Ratchet nodded but Optimus wasn't sure if he had really heard him. "Bumblebee, move your hands." He told the youngling sharply.

"But-" Bumblebee started to protest, remembering clearly Optimus' instructions not to let go of Aria.

"Now!" Ratchet barked.

Bumblebee jumped, startled by Ratchet's sudden shout.

"It's alright Bumblebee," Optimus told him as he carefully pulled the youngling back so that Ratchet could see the hole in Aria's chest. But Bumblebee didn't say anything, or make any sound, as he watched Ratchet inspect his sister with wide optics.

It wasn't long before the old medic started talking to himself, like he always did when he needed to sort through his thoughts as quickly as possible. "It looks like the shot cauterized most of the wound so how is she still losing fluid-?"

He suddenly stopped in mid thought, optics going wide as he realized what was missing from Aria's chest, and what its purpose had been.

"Ratchet?" Optimus tried to ask.

"Get her into the med bay." The medic suddenly ordered. "Quickly!"

Hearing enough urgency in Ratchet's voice to match his own, Optimus immediately scooped Aria up and ran for the inner workings of the med bay, Ratchet right next to him, opening doors and shouting orders as other bots appeared to see what was going on.

"Put her there," Ratchet told Prime, pointing at an empty bed that could have fit at least ten Arias. Optimus did so without questions.

"I knew I should have gone with you. I just knew it!" Ratchet muttered to himself as he worked frantically, shoving machines set on wheels just for this purpose away and dragging new ones closer as he muttered to himself. Optimus watched as the medic carefully connected Aria to the handful of machines that were now clustered around her bed.

Wheeljack suddenly appeared, limping slightly from a cut running down most of one leg from a Decepticon that had tried to tangle with him at theSpaceBridge. "The others are just behind me," he quickly told Optimus before hurriedly limping over to the bed Aria was on, "How is sh-?" He started to ask, but never got a chance to finish his question.

"Spare pumps, do we have any?" Ratchet abruptly asked, not sparing enough time to speak a full sentence.

Wheeljack gasped when he saw why Ratchet needed a pump. "Y-yes," he managed to say, "but none that are small enough to fit her."

Ratchet shook his head sharply, never taking his optics off of Aria where he was pressing two large fingers down to halt the flow of blood from her chest. "Doesn't need too right now, we just need something to keep her internal fluids circulating until we find a better solution." Ratchet told him.

Wheeljack was nodding halfway through, understanding perfectly. By the time Ratchet finished speaking, the inventor had disappeared only to reappear nanokliks later with a pump larger then Aria's head in his hands.

Optimus watched as the two mechs hooked the spare part up to Aria's internal workings through the gaping hole in her frame. They had gotten the thing working enough to keep the air and fluid she needed circling through her when Optimus heard the unmistakable noise of more bots arriving outside the med bay. Giving Aria one more fearful look, he left to see who was still functional and who else needed Ratchet's attention.

Organized chaos greeted him outside the medical wing's doors. Not only were most of the mechs that had been with Optimus at Kaon and the Space Bridge there, but Ariel had arrived as well, no doubt drawn by Bumblebee's terrified crying.

Leaving the youngling to Ariel for the moment, Optimus made his way over to Prowl standing on the other side of the room. Mechs helping the injured Hound and Hot Rod passed him on their way into the hospital facility. Optimus had joined Prowl in time to hear him send a runner off to tell Alpha Trion that Decepticons had been encountered by theSpaceBridge. Hopefully the older mech could help them discern if this was just because Megatron had realized that that was were the Autobots had been heading or if he had other plans for the bridge they should be aware of.

"All but Treads are still with us." Prowl reported stoically, doing what he could to keep the loss from affecting his head, "but what bothers me even more is that Megatron saw Bumblebee."

"Yes," Optimus said. His mind felt fragmented – too many things demanding too much of his attention – and he couldn't help but feel as if he was missing some consequence he would have ordinarily seen.

Prowl must have noticed his leader's shifting state of mind. "How do we keep him safe from Megatron?" He asked.

Optimus was saved from having to wrestle his mind back into something resembling focus as Ratchet suddenly stepped out of the medical bay. All motion abruptly stopped as most heads turned toward theCMO.

It was Chromia that found the courage to ask, "How is she?"

Ratchet looked wearier then Optimus had seen him in a long time. "She's alive, but just barely," the old medic clarified before the relief could kick in, but Optimus noticed that he wouldn't look up at anyone, especially Bumblebee or Bluestreak, as if that was only half of the news.

"But?" Optimus softly pressed when the yellow surgeon didn't go on.

The old mech vented a sorrowful sigh. "But Megatron shredded half of her pump and even if I knew what I was doing I couldn't rebuild it. We don't even have anything small enough to build a substitute. The only thing keeping her alive is the spare pump we've hooked her up to, but that can only last so long. It's a temporary measure."

Optimus nodded, spark shrinking. "How long?" He asked into the deathly silence of the room.

Ratchet shook his head heavily. "I don't know." He told them softly. "But not long."

A pitiful sound caught everyone's attention. Clinging to Ariel, a sob stuck in the back of Bumblebee's throat as his small frame started shaking. "No!" He sobbed, little voice squeaking slightly. "No she can't go! You've got to do something Ratchet, you've got to!" The youngling pleaded, rushing over to pull at Ratchet's much larger hand.

Ratchet looked like his own spark was breaking as he knelt down to be on optic level with the youngling. "But there's nothing I can do little one. Her pump, part of her organic spark, is broken beyond repair." The old medic explained gently to the youngling.

Bumblebee looked up at him with large, frightened optics. "Then I'll give her part of mine! You keep saying it's too big anyway and there're no more parts for a bigger frame. Let her have the extra." He pleaded, grasping for any kind of idea that might save his organic sister.

Ratchet didn't know what else to say. How was he supposed to tell the youngling that there was no hope when he so desperately clung to the notion that there was?

"I will too!" Bluestreak suddenly piped up readily from where he had been sitting, unnaturally quiet, on the other side of the room since he had heard that Aria was going to die. "If it'll help Aria then I'll give her a piece of my spark too. It's the same as bonding with family yeah? And Aria's already family. We can't just sit and do nothing if there's still something we can do. She'll be extinguished anyway if we don't at least try _something_." The older mech joined in, eager to still believe that his organic friend still had a chance.

"No." Ratchet said firmly. "I'm not about to risk both of your lives on something that probably won't work." He told them, but he had slipped up already.

"Probably?" Bluestreak picked up instantly. "Then that means it _could_ work right?"

Ratchet eyed the young mech warily, but Wheeljack spoke up before he could continue to insist that this was not a good idea. "Technically it could." The inventor said, and then seeing the glare Ratchet was giving him added, "But it would be very dangerous of course. Removing pieces of sparks is nothing to sneeze at. You all could die."

"I don't care!" Bumblebee suddenly shouted. "I don't care! I don't care! I don't care! I want my sister back!" He yelled, completely breaking down. And then before anyone could stop him, he dashed forward and into the med bay. Optimus and Ratchet shared one startled look before running after him, some of the others following them. They arrived just in time to see Bumblebee, scrambling to sit on top of Aria's bed, rip away the wires that connected the spare pump to Aria's frame.

"Bumblebee! Stop!" Ariel shouted next to Optimus; Chromia, Ironhide, and Bluestreak on her other side.

But Bumblebee ignored her. Instead he put both of his hands on Aria's red painted chest, nearly hiding her from sight. Then he squeezed his optics shut, concentrated hard, and then gave a surprised shriek as a blinding flash of light encompassed them both.

"Bumblebee!" Several voices shouted, the loudest Optimus and Ratchet's. Quick, before he could do it again, Optimus leapt forward and grabbed the yellow youngling and pulled him away from the dying Aria.

Only…

Aria's eyes flew open, and she opened her mouth and breathed in a deep, ragged, gasp. As they watched, the light from Bumblebee folded in on itself as it settled more compactly into the hole in her chest. As the intense, yellow, light dimmed, her eyes slid shut again and her body relaxed. Only now her bleeding had slowed and she was breathing on her own again.

"I don't believe it…" Jazz muttered from somewhere behind Optimus.

Ratchet was by Aria's side in an instant, scanning and re-determining her condition. "It-" but words failed him a moment, "it worked." He said looking up at Bumblebee in absolute shock and awe.

He quickly shook himself out of it. "Bluestreak," the old medic called beckoning the other mech over.

Bluestreak took the approval before Ratchet remembered that this might be too dangerous to attempt. Quickly he went down on one knee in between Bumblebee and the still Aria. "'Bee, how did you do that?" He asked.

Bumblebee looked up, his blue optics slightly unfocused. "I-I just gave it to her. She needs it," was all he could think to say. He felt a little funny now; lighter then he had a minute ago and kinda stretched out.

It was little enough to go on, Bluestreak knew, but he still had to try. "She's already family," he muttered to himself again, and then placed his hands over Aria just as Bumblebee had done.

There was another flash of light, only this time, Aria's fingertips twitched as the piece of Bluestreak's spark gathered into her wound.

Ratchet was quiet a moment, running every scan on Aria at every level he could think of. Then he gave a downright giddy laugh. "I can't believe it. It's actually working!" he all but shouted in equal parts joy and amazement.

Bluestreak chose that moment to fall over on his backside.

Ratchet's thoughtful frown was back as he did a preliminary scan on the fallen mech. Bluestreak hardly noticed with the way the room was suddenly spinning out of control.

"I-I'm fuh-erk-fine." He managed dizzily.

Ratchet humphed, but didn't move from Aria's side. "Barely," he corrected, "you gave her too much too fast. If this is going to work without killing anyone else she'll need multiple donors, the more the better so we can divide the necessary amount into smaller pieces." He muttered, thinking quickly, hardly even aware that he was saying this out loud where everyone could hear him.

"I'll do it." Optimus spoke up before anyone else.

But Ratchet shook his head. "No, we don't know what kind of repercussions this'll have on the rest of you. I'd prefer to keep the only mech standing between us and Cybertron's utter demolition in one, complete, piece."

Optimus stared solidly at his long time ally. "Prefer?" He pointed out, latching onto the word with the same tenacity Bluestreak had done earlier.

Ratchet didn't waver. "No." He said with the air of finality.

Optimus was about to defy him anyway, but a strong yet gentle hand on his arm stopped him. He turned to see Ariel standing next to him, the same steely determination he felt burning in her optics.

"I'll give her a piece of my spark." She volunteered instead.

"But-" Optimus said quietly, solely to her.

She gently pressed his arm. "Ratchet's right." She said. And that was the end.

"I will too." Wheeljack said into the silence that followed.

"And I." Said Chromia with her usual determination, although Ariel could hear the fear in her sister's voice, either for her sake or Aria's was harder to discern.

"Not alone you don't," Ironhide added gruffly, but Optimus could see the way his optics kept sliding over to Aria where she lay prone on the oversized bed. The little human had grown on the gruff old mech over the years since they had met in the ruins of Primahex, especially once she had let him in on the not so little secret that a certain silver femme thought that he was hot. It had taken much longer to explain what that meant then if she had just said she found him attractive in the first place, but he supposed that was part of her innate, organic charm; being indecipherable.

Ratchet thought quick and thoroughly. "I suppose that could be enough-" he murmured to himself.

"If you count me out of this Ratchet I swear you will live to regret it!" Hound's voice suddenly came across the easily movable curtains that sectioned off the medical bay. The rest of Hound appeared a moment later, leaning heavily on a makeshift cane.

"More like I'll never hear the end of it." Ratchet growled as he shot the other mech a dirty look. "How many times does it take to get it through your thick head that stay put means stop getting up and walking on that leg?"

"I don't know, try it again and we'll see." Hound shot back, only he was too distracted by Aria's small unmoving form to put much force behind it. "Besides, aren't the more the merrier in a situation like this?" He asked pointedly.

Ratchet just glared at him. Vaguely he wondered what it was about his patients that made them all want to ignore him the instant he said anything at all. "Get back in bed Hound."

"Like Hell." He said. Optimus wasn't the only one that noticed the distinctly human term. Hound probably knew more about Aria's culture then anyone else, except possibly Ariel. He had spent enough time with the little organic to have learned not just her language, but her mannerisms and her quirks as well. Like most of the others that had gotten to know her, he cared for Aria deeply, as if she was his own flesh and blood, as the little human would say.

Ratchet growled, realizing that it was just a pointless waste of time to try and argue with him any longer. "Fine. Fine! Have it your way. Just know that once your done here I'm going to strap you to the bed frame if that's what it takes to keep you from permanently going lame!" He practically shouted, frustrated now as well as afraid for Aria's sake. She was his friend too after all. Had been for a long time.

"Now everybody else needs to get out," Ratchet told the small crowd around Aria's bed, "we don't need an audience for something like this."

"Come on Bumblebee," Optimus leaned down towards the still shaking youngling, "let's go wait outside."

...

Optimus hated waiting. Over the long vorns since he had become Prime and the war had started, Optimus had learned to dread it, even more then the constant fighting with Megatron and his Decepticons.

"Prime?"

Optimus gathered his focus to find Prowl standing next to him. Optimus almost gave a small, humorless laugh. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, Prowl was too focused to let anyone sit around and languish in misery for long.

"Yes, what is it Prowl?" He asked with a heavy voice instead.

Prowl hesitated for only a nanoklik. Optimus was a little surprised to see that Aria's condition had even him uneasy. "I wanted to discuss battle with you. There is something that does not sit well with me."

"And what is that Prowl?" Optimus asked slowly.

Prowl's face didn't show anything of what he was feeling. "How did they find us so fast?" He asked, keeping his voice low. "Not even we knew we were going to the Space Bridge until we had regrouped in the wastelands. How did Megatron know where we were going?"

Optimus stared out at the room in front of him. The doors to the med bay were still closed, and probably would be for some time. Apart from him and Prowl, the room was empty except for Bumblebee and Preceptor where they sat on the floor. With no one else to check up on the little mech, the scientist Preceptor had gotten stuck with the job.

"'Bee just-no wait now," the scientist said quickly as he tried to make Bumblebee sit still. "Stop squirming."

But the youngling wasn't having any of it. "No!" He said stubbornly, taking his small arm away from the mech trying to ensure his health. "Where's Aria? I want Aria!" Bumblebee started to cry.

Preceptor looked like the floor had just opened up in front of him to reveal a chimera with ten heads, each one a different color of the spectrum. "Ah, w-wait a cycle Bumblebee. Don't do that now," he tried.

Optimus just shook his head. He knew Bumblebee was fine if he had the energy to cry like that, just like he knew the reason why Megatron had found them so fast. He had told him as much during their fight. But he also knew what Prowl was getting at.

"You think they're might be a spy?"

Prowl sharply shook his head. "No, not really. However the matter does deserve looking into." He said.

At any other time Optimus would have let himself feel amused that Aria had this affect on Prowl. There were only a few times the Autobot could remember where Prowl had to distract himself with simplistic details like this.

Unfortunately, Aria bleeding out in the next room mangled any humor there might have been.

Optimus vented a mournful sigh. "We'll talk to the mechs that were being held by Shockwave, just to be sure."

Spies were not something Optimus liked to dwell on, but he had to admit that the threat was very real at all times. Megatron wanted to know what Optimus Prime was doing just like Optimus Prime wanted to know what Megatron was doing.

It still posed a troubling question. Just to be sure they went to Alpha Trion once they were finished talking with the rescued mechs. He was observant and surprisingly cunning behind his old man's outer shell that if anyone had been acting strange, he would have noticed.

Prowl only spoke of the battle at theSpaceBridgeonce, surprising Optimus because he hadn't expected the black and white mech to bring it up at all. They were approaching Alpha Trion's door when the former police officer turned sharply and said, "Blaming yourself doesn't solve anything. This has been her war just as long as it's been ours. She threw her lot in with us almost from the very start, maybe even before that. Certainly at least as long as I've known her. You could no more stop her from taking a bullet for Bumblebee then she could stop you. Ratchet will take care of her now."

Optimus had stopped, surprised by Prowl's words. He hadn't known what to say, so he had just nodded to show he understood, even if he still thought, somewhere near the back of his mind, that he should have been able to do something.

Alpha Trion had no bright light to shine on the question of any espionage involved with the attack on Hound's patrol, however he did say he would monitor the situation closely regarding other patrols. Then they left after informing him of the most recent matters.

By the time they got back, Preceptor had disappeared back into the med bay. Ariel and Bluestreak had taken his place. They were sitting outside those impassable doors, Bumblebee and Arcee sandwiched between them. The two younglings were leaning on each other like Optimus had seen them do when one of them had had a nightmare. On Bluestreak's other side, Chromia and Ironhide were propping each other up a little farther down, looking like they had both just lost some sort of drinking game the way they wobbled slightly and threatened to fall over every so often. The only thing that kept their image from being funny was little Val shivering as he clung to the adults as if he thought he would drown if he let go.

If it was possible, Optimus' spark felt even heavier then before as he went and sat beside Ariel. Bumblebee crawled into his lap without a word. Little Arcee looked to see who had her friend now and, seeing it was Optimus, went and climbed into Chromia's lap to try and comfort Val.

"How are you feeling?" Optimus asked Ariel softly, vaguely wondering how giving a piece of one's spark away to an organic who had no way to reciprocate affected a bot.

Ariel stirred slightly, as if she had been dozing off, and met his optics. She looked tired, as if she hadn't rested in orbits.

"Fine," she told him automatically, then added with a subdued smile, "stretched a little thin, but I can feel Aria at the other end, like I can Chromia and Arcee. It's working."

Optimus felt a small wave of relief wash over him. There was that much good news at least.

But the bad still outweighed the good. "Treads was extinguished in the fight," Optimus told Ariel numbly as he watched Val, the biggest and strongest of the younglings, start to cry as Arcee leaned her head against his shoulder.

Ariel nodded solemnly. "I know," she answered softly, "Val started screaming shortly before you arrived. We couldn't think of anything else that would make him hurt like that."

Optimus nodded before leaning his head back against the wall behind him. He was silent a moment before spitting out the even worse news. "Megatron saw Bumblebee."

Ariel sat up in surprise, weariness temporarily erased by shock as she stared over at him with wide optics. "What?" She asked, praying she had heard wrong.

Optimus simply nodded again.

Ariel stared at the floor for a moment as she tried to think straight through the horror Optimus' news brought on. "But," she finally managed, looking up at him again, "but the others. Sparksnever come out of the Well alone." She said in fear. It was common knowledge. _Everybody_ knew that.

Optimus nodded. Then pointedly looked down at the unnaturally quiet Bumblebee sitting in his lap. He was still staring, unblinking, at the doors to the medical bay.

Ariel looked at the boy as well, then gave a nod of understanding. They could talk about this later, once the younglings were taken care of. Looking over at the former linguist and the way she was looking apprehensively between the three children in the room, Optimus thought they probably had the same idea of what must be done to keep the little ones safe.

He was kept from dwelling on his sorrowing solution by Ratchet suddenly coming out of the hospital, supporting Wheeljack. Or maybe Wheeljack was supporting him. They both looked as unbalanced as Chromia and Ironhide sitting beside the door.

Nobody spoke as the medical officer helped Wheeljack into a chair before he fell and dragged them both to the floor. Between the two of them Ratchet was definitely the steadier of the two, although Optimus noticed that he swayed slightly as he straightened up from helping Wheeljack.

Ratchet looked back at the others gathered in front of the hospital doors, taking what passed for a deep breath before speaking.

"She's still with us." He eventually said, his voice wobbling slightly. "The transfers appear to have worked."

The 'but' hung unspoken in the air a moment, painfully obvious in Ratchet's voice.

"However," he finally went one, "she hasn't come back online yet. More," he stuttered although Optimus wasn't sure if it was because his feelings were getting in the way or because of his apparent dizziness, "More like she can't wake up. I've done what I can to stabilize her, but I just don't know enough about her frame to know what else to do." He said, shrugging helplessly, his gaze sliding over to the med bay doors that had closed behind him, although he stumbled slightly as if the room continued to turn even after he stopped moving his head.

"You alright there Ratchet?" Ironhide asked, his words mostly understandable.

Wheeljack gave a breathless gust of laughter. "'Bout as right as the rest of us." He slurred. "Aria was still fading after Hound and I were done, so what do you think he does?" He asked, waving a hand in Ratchet's general direction although it could have just as easily been pointing at the wall next to him. "He tells her 'oh no you don't' and zap! Gives her a piece of his own spark. Mighty dangerous of you Ra-chet," Wheeljack prodded somewhat deliriously, drawing Ratchet's name out into two words.

Ratchet pointedly ignored his old friend. He highly doubted Wheeljack would even remember this after some much needed rest. His state probably hadn't been much helped by the pain inhibitors Ratchet had given him earlier anyway.

"Do you know how long until she might come back online?" Optimus asked, getting back to Aria's condition.

Ratchet shook his head heavily. "No, it could be cycles or it could be vorns. I just don't _know_." He stressed, clearly aggravated by his own lack of knowledge. It was always the ones he couldn't help that plagued him. "I'm not even sure if she will ever wake up." He admitted.

Jazz's out of place burst of sharp laughter broke the suffocating silence. "Go figure," he said, trying to joke even though his spark wasn't in it, "you all save her life just so she can sleep it away. Just watch, she'll wake up a vorn or two and say, 'hey, what'd I miss?' as if no time had passed at all."

Of course the joke fell flatter then a year old balloon left in the sun. But there was still a moment of silent anticipation as everyone in the room turned and stared at the med bay doors. This was the ironic moment, when the last thing you expected, but still so desperately wanted, should happen, where it would seem Aria would wake up just to prove Jazz wrong.

The silence stretched on.

Ratchet shook his head and vented a sigh as he turned back to them, breaking the silence.

"I'll tell you if anything changes."

Then he went back into the med bay to tend to the rest of the injured.

...

So they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Gradually over the next few orbits, things settled down into a forced sense of normalcy. There were other matters to attend to after all. More battles to prepare for, more lines to defend, more bots to worry about. They couldn't afford to sit around and wait for Aria to wake up.

But she was always near the forefront of their minds. She, along with the battle at theSpaceBridgein general, had been pulling incessantly at Optimus' head for orbits now. He just couldn't get away from them.

When he could he went to his old workstation in the Hall of Records and stared out the nearby window at the city ofIaconas he tried to sort himself out, but those times were few and far between. Still he managed.

It was about an orn after theSpaceBridgebattle that Ariel found him there, standing in front of the chipped and dirtied window, hands clasped behind his back, thinking hard. He knew the moment she had joined him, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from the memory of Treads falling and of little Val crying to face her right away.

She gave him time, seeing the far away look even in his reflection on the window's clear surface.

Finally the memory ended and Optimus' optics flickered away from the view outside the window towards Ariel's reflected image.

"You're looking better." He said as he turned to look at the reflection's source.

Ariel nodded as she stepped closer to him. "It was not as hard as Ratchet first thought to adjust to her presence. Bluestreak was right when he said that it was just like bonding with family. Although since Aria does not have anything to give back I felt like I had stretched myself thin at first and she felt very far away." She told him.

"You can actually feel her?" Optimus asked, curious. He understood Ratchet's concern, but there were times, like now, when he wondered how he had let himself be talked out of helping one of his oldest friends.

Ariel nodded, unaware of his internal question. "Yes, but it is faint, probably because she is still sleeping. I can tell she is still alive, and in no danger of extinguishing in the near future, but otherwise, nothing. No emotion or feeling, as if she's not even dreaming. It worries me." She admitted softly.

Optimus placed a comforting hand somewhere between her shoulders and back. "I know," he told her before letting his hand fall away a klik later.

Ariel nodded and looked away from him, arms crossed in front of her torso. For a cycle her gaze seemed very far away, but eventually she wrestled it back into the present moment. "I wanted to speak with you about the younglings," she said as she turned her attention towards him again, forcibly putting Aria out of her head for the moment.

Optimus nodded. He had been expecting this sooner, but this was the first chance they had had to return to their previous conversation. But even prepared as he was, he was still shocked by Ariel's next words.

"We need to split them up."

Optimus stared at her an endless klik. "What?" He asked in evident surprise.

"You said yourself that Megatron saw Bumblebee and everybody functioning, including him, knows that sparklings never leave the Well of Allsparks alone. He'll also have figured out that they are _here_. Optimus," Ariel said almost pleadingly after her first clear, logical sentences, "he will come looking for them."

Optimus had reasoned as much, but still, separate them? They had been together since they had first been brought online. Could they handle that?

Could they afford not to handle it?

"But the Decepticons control most of the planet. We're already spread so thin Ariel. Iacon is our most fortified base." Optimus said, testing her logic but not dismissing it.

Ariel took a calculated step forward, wishing to make herself very clear. "Megatron does not suffer things he is afraid of Optimus, and for some reason that has probably very little to do with rational thought, he _is_ afraid of the younglings. He will not stop until he is sure that every last one of them is _dead_." Ariel insisted, meeting Optimus' gaze full on despite the almost uncomfortable closeness between them. "We must," she said with careful force, "protect them." She loved them too much not to.

"We will," Optimus told her, "I promise."

Then he thought through their other options, if there were any.

But if there was a better way to handle this, Optimus was hard put to see it. At the very least Megatron would be slowed by having to actually search for the younglings and if the Autobots could distract him from that even more, the better.

"We should discuss this with the other guardians before coming to any hard decisions, however I believe you are right. The only problem I foresee is Val. I don't think it would be wise to take him away from the only home he's ever known just after his guardian's death. He's already lost so much."

Ariel nodded and thought, her optics slightly glazed as she stared at something that wasn't there. Optimus waited. Ariel always got that look when she received one of her premonitions.

"What about the Wreckers?" She asked, sounding only mildly unsure of what she was saying.

"What about them?"

"Do you think Val would do well with them?" She asked as if it should be obvious. This was what they were talking about after all.

Optimus draw back slightly. "He's a child!" he said loudly in his shock.

Ariel rolled her optics at him. "Well not right this instant. I mean when he is older."

Optimus thought about it. Even now it was easy to see that Val had the same never-say-die attitude that most of the Autobot elite force did. With a little – alright, a _lot _– of training, he could very well become a part of Ultra Magnus' force.

"Possibly…" Optimus said thoughtfully.

"Good," Ariel said glad he was seeing things as she did, "introduce them. See what Ultra Magnus thinks. See how Val reacts. I think they could be good for him."

That startled a short laugh from Optimus. The Wreckers, while effective and dedicated, did not exactly fall under the 'good influence for children' column most adults kept.

Before Ariel could ask what he found so funny, something Optimus didn't hear grabbed her attention and she looked back towards the door. At first he thought she was having another premonition, which was slightly odd. They usually weren't grouped so close together, but that wasn't it. She started smiling as she stared at the air near the door.

Before she could tell him what she had just heard, he received an incoming message from Wheeljack.

"Yes, wha-" Optimus started, idly wondering what had exploded this time.

"She's awake!" Wheeljack shouted excitedly before Optimus could finish. "She's finally awake!"

Optimus looked over at Ariel, optics wide. She was smiling even more now, undoubtedly feeling the same news through her new bond with Aria.

"Let's go say hello." Ariel said, unable to stop grinning, before quickly walking out the door, Optimus following right behind her.


	27. Chapter 27: Kith and Kin

Well it's the end of an era. *Sigh* I still can't believe it. *Screams out loud* I have no finished my first story! XD *SQUEEEE!*

;D Okay, well as you may have noticed this chapter is ridiculously long. Considering that a few of you have compared my story to crack that feeds your addictions, I'm hoping this will lessen the withdrawal symptoms. You also might be excited to hear that I will be posting an Aria 'verse one shot this Saturday called _Muddling Through_ and I think you'll all really like it. It's an alternate ending/different dimension sort of thing and that's all I'm going to say on the matter right now. ;P

I also would like to thank each and every one of you for reading _I Lost A World!_. You've just made it so fun. And all your suggestions and comments have added another level of depth to this that I never imagined before. And with 102 favs, 98 alerts, 23,437 hits, and 339 reviews, I can safely say _ILAW! 's_ success has surpassed anything I could have imagined. Of course, I first expected it to be 12 chapters at the most, so I guess breaking expectations is this story's purpose in life. n_n; Oh! And for news on future stuff I would either sign onto my author alerts, or check my profile or my blog (which links to my profile).

So I thank you now. Thank you, thank you *bows graciously like Sebastian* It's been great fun and I really hope I have enough gumption to finish all the other ideas Aria has inspired.

Like Optimus said: Until we meet again.

And like I said: Later gators! ^n.n^

...

27 – Kith and Kin – 27

For a long minute, Aria thought she was swimming. Of course it was dark, which was odd, and she couldn't really feel the water, which was even odder, but she could hear the gentle, rhythmic whoosh of the waves, so she assumed that the lack of light and feeling must just be some sort of fluke.

But then the ebb and flow of the waves quickened, or maybe her hearing sped up, because the waves turned into an internal heartbeat. It was echoing in her ears, a rhythmic pounding to match the thudding pain taking its place in her head and chest. Feeling reappeared with the pulsing drum beating inside her head and she quickly wished that it hadn't. She hurt _everywhere_, as if she had been beaten by a wildly thrashing crocodile before being stewed in a large pot. She felt hot and sore and raw and she really wished the swimming sensation would come back so she could at least _pretend_ this was not happening.

External sound, which sounded far, _far_, too loud in her sensitive ears, appeared to her left, as if somebody had just come to stand beside her and was now fidgeting restlessly.

"Aria?"

She knew that voice, she slowly realized, she knew it very well. It was Wheeljack. What was he doing standing next to her in the dark?

Aria gave a small groan to show she had heard him, unable and most unwilling to try speaking at this point. She'd probably have to shout to be heard over the pounding of her pulse in her temples anyway.

"Can you open your eyes?" Wheeljack asked carefully next to her, sounding worried.

Oh. Was that why it was so dark? Well that was easily fixed.

She took stock of her aching, thrumming, pounding body and added a 'maybe' to the end of that last assumption.

It took her a minute, but eventually Aria remembered how her eyelids worked. For

a long, foggy minute Aria stared blearily up at the brightly lit ceiling, too dazed even to wonder what was going on. Then she noticed movement next to her just before the light above her was suddenly blotted out, covered by the large, silhouetted figures of people she ought to have recognized even in the dark. But for some reason – the pounding no doubt – it took her a slow minute to recognize them. Should she be worried about that maybe?

"Optimus?" Aria managed to mumble through cracking lips. Optimus was red and blue right? Or was that someone else?

There was a loud, collective whoosh of relieved air at her barely understandable murmur that brushed against Aria's face and lifted strands of her hair away from her hot face. She slowly closed her eyes and enjoyed the coolness against her too hot skin. Her chest in particularly felt like it was burning. Wait. Hadn't she been hit there?

Distant memories stirred groggily in the back of her mind, but they were too slow to appear before Optimus started talking. She didn't have the attention span to listen to both of them at the moment, so she picked Optimus. He would probably make more sense right now anyway.

"Yes Ariah, we're all here. How do you feel?" He asked, sounding just as concerned as Wheeljack had a second ago.

Aria barely registered that he was talking, much less that he had asked her a question. His words sounded so clear and concise, without the usual hesitation of internal translating Aria had come to expect from all of the bots that had tried to learn her language. But with the state her mind was in, it took Aria a moment to notice.

"You sssound funny." She said, her tongue slipping over the 's'. Then, feeling that she was missing an important piece of the story about why she felt like death warmed over, Aria slowly blinked at the familiar faces looking down on her. She was beginning to regain enough cognitive ability to think that she felt like she had just gone through the Space Bridge again, only ten times worse.

"Wah-wat happ'nd?" She managed to ask with a weak groan. Then she realized that she was lying in a metal hospital bed. "Di' I glitch again?"

As out of it as she was, Aria still heard the muted, relieved laughter of those around her as well as the smile in her old friend's voice. "Sleep Aria." He told her gently. "You're going to be fine."

"A'right," she mumbled, trusting him innately as she started falling back into that big, black swimming pool, away from the pounding in her head and the fire in her chest.

And then the world was black again.

...

It was some time before Aria had recovered enough to remember what had happened. It was only a few seconds more before she realized that an important part of her was irretrievably missing.

She never said anything of her unease out loud, but they could all feel it, especially the eight that had tied themselves to her immediate life, although Optimus had more then a good idea of how she was feeling. He didn't need a bond with her to know she felt confused about a lot of things.

But he gave her time. There were some things he could not imagine, or even identify with; like the anxiety she felt over receiving a spark. Granted it was an extremely odd circumstance – one that had never been imagined before – however Cybertronians were not new to the idea of interchanging parts of their physical frames. They even changed entire frames as they aged, like the younglings would need to do eventually as their sparks learned and grew. From what Optimus understood, organics didn't need to deal with this at all. New parts were an exception, rather then the rule. He thought it was best to leave Ariah alone so she could come to her own peace with her new circumstance. Besides, it wasn't as if he didn't have enough to deal with as it was. Already Megatron was pushing harder against Iacon, no doubt driven by the thought that younglings were hidden behind its walls.

But time passed, and still Aria seemed lost. Even Bumblebee couldn't get her to talk anymore. Optimus knew that he had to talk with her once he found the yellow youngling moping because his _jie mei_ was never happy anymore.

He found her the next day, sitting on the edge of a step along one of the many staircases that had been built in the Hall of Records. She was looking at her hands, which were laced together in her lap, as she idly swung her legs over the edge. The white light of her new half-spark glowed softly through her white shirt.

Without a word, Optimus went and sat beneath her several steps so that his head was roughly level with her small frame.

For many cycles they sat in thoughtful silence, Aria wrapped up in her turbulent thoughts and Optimus giving her time to process them without his added input.

But eventually he felt the need to speak.

"You are upset." He stated in a low voice, rather than asked.

After a moment, Aria shook her head, and then she nodded. Then she took in a heavy breath but didn't look up from her clasped hands. "Yes and no," she admitted, her voice rough and ragged.

Optimus noted the tear stained quality to her voice, but decided not to bring it up just yet. "How so?" He asked instead.

Ariah sat quiet for another long cycle. "Have you ever heard the saying 'feeling alone in a crowded room'?" She asked eventually.

Optimus blinked at her. He hadn't expected that. "No," he answered her, "but it sounds straight forward enough."

Aria nodded absentmindedly. "That's how I feel." She said softly. Then she swallowed hard as she stared determinedly at the empty air in front of her.

"Why?" Optimus asked, deciding not to speak his mind quite yet. There would be plenty of time for that once she had gotten her feelings out in the air.

Aria snorted a laugh as she looked down at her hands. "Because I don't belong here Optimus, you know that. You've tried to send me through theSpaceBridgeoften enough to prove that." She said somewhat bitterly, although Optimus wasn't sure if that was because she now regretted not going or if she was resentful of his apparent desire to get rid of her.

"It's just," she went on before he could explain himself, "it's just that I always thought I'd get to go home. Back where things made sense and the only thing I had to worry about was getting good grades in school and not getting lost when I dropped Sera off at a friend's house." She said, her throat going tight at the mention of her sister. "Of course I would miss you guys – I thought my heart would break when we said goodbye that night," she suddenly laughed almost hysterically, "and I guess it did! – but it would be alright because I'd be home, in my own bed, safe with my family." She said, chocking up more.

Optimus stayed silent and watched her with sympathetic blue optics as she gathered what self control she could find.

"I'm sorry," she muttered a few moments later as she rubbed her nose, "that sounds ungrateful of me doesn't it? Expecting to be safe at home while you guys fight and die for yours."

But Optimus shook his head. "You want the same thing we do Ariah; a home where we can live in peace, safe and free from bots like Megatron." He told her gently.

Aria nodded as she stared down at her hands again. She cracked a teary eyed grin. "Somehow I knew you'd say something like that." She said, her voice creaking now.

Optimus nodded slowly. "It seems I am getting predictable then." He said, hoping to make her smile.

It worked a little. Her mouth twitched upwards minutely as she wiped her eyes dry again. "Just a little bit yeah."

She stared silently as she rubbed her hands together between her knees.

Soon her small, quiet voice reappeared, momentarily dry, although Optimus hardly expected that to last. "I already knew that if I chose not to go with Sera, then I wasn't going to get home at all. At least not bySpaceBridge. I couldn't ask that of you guys, not again." She told him.

Optimus waited.

A crack finally appeared in Ariahs' schooled face and she squeezed her eyes shut as tears pitched down her cheeks. She breathed in quickly, throwing her hands over her face but unable to stop her tears.

"Oh God!" She cried through her fingers, "I miss her!" She began to sob, not bothering to try and hide her loneliness anymore.

"I know." Optimus said gently.

"I-I'm n-n-never going to s-see her a-again!" She stuttered, leaning forward so that her covered face rested against her knees as she cried.

He let her. There was no reason she should keep this pain locked up where it would do more damage then good. When it was clear she had more tears in her then Optimus had first thought, he reached up and gently nudged her closer. Automatically she leaned against his cheek, his fingers wrapped around her back in a miniature embrace.

She cried for a long time, clinging to Optimus until she had wrung herself out.

Eventually her tears slowed and her spark-wracking sobs turned into off beat hiccups as she leaned, curled up on herself, against Optimus. "Ariah," Optimus said when he thought she could hear him over her weeping. "I understand why you feel like you don't belong here, but it's not true. You're one of us Ariah, you have been for a long time." He said remembering Prowl's words that orbit she had been bleeding out on Ratchet's table. Even Ratchet giving her a piece of his spark spoke volumes of how much they loved her. "And the reason I tried to send you back so often wasn't because I didn't want you here. I just wanted you to be safe Ariah." He told her earnestly, hoping she would believe him. "And I thought you would be safer on your own planet." He admitted.

Aria hiccupped in answer.

"Well," she eventually said, her voice stuffy, "you might have had a point there." She said, putting a hand over her new spark-heart. "Want to know something weird?" She asked softly a moment later.

Optimus tilted his head slightly so he could see her, but not enough that she had to move away. "What?"

"I can feel them sometimes," she confessed softly, her voice barely above a whisper, "like they're right there with me. Sometimes I can even get emotion out of it. Like right now I think Ratchet's yelling at Hound for trying to leave the med bay again."

Optimus smiled. It was probably true. "That is a bond." Optimus told her, once again feeling slightly upset that he had missed his chance to help her more.

Aria nodded unaware of Optimus' guilt as she looked at the floor. "Yeah, it's actually really weird." She told him with a half laugh. "But I guess that means I'm not really alone, doesn't it? Because can't they feel me too?"

Optimus nodded. "Ariel knew you were awake before Wheeljack had even said anything." He told her.

Aria nodded slowly. "Cool." She said.

"I am glad you saved me you know," she told him after another moment, sounding slightly embarrassed now over her earlier self-pity, although Optimus could hardly blame her for it, "at least now if I can't go home to my blood family, then I get to stay here with you guys. You're like my other family. My extended family," she said with a tiny laugh as she reached up a hand to feel the warmth of the spark that had melded with what was left of her original heart.

Optimus found a smile for her, even if it was a little twisted around the edges. "If only we could have done more for you in the end." He said, his guilt coming out in spades now.

Aria blinked at him and frowned slightly. "What?" She asked, sounding somewhat confused.

Now it was Optimus' turn to wonder if he should say anything.

"If I had only been faster." The words rushed out. "If I had only noticed Bumblebee sooner."

But Aria wasn't having any of that. "If only you had the power to be everywhere at once. If only I had magic, Megatron-proof armor. If only Bumblebee had listened for once and stayed put instead of wandering out onto a war zone." She said rolling her eyes at his guilt. "You can't blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault." She told him plainly.

He decided not to argue with that logic, but that didn't make him feel any better either. "It's just," he tried to sort out what he felt, "when you're heart stopped, I didn't know what to do. You have put so much faith in me, ever since we met, have relied on me and trusted me without question, no matter how much you argue," he said slanting her a look that seemed to say there were times when she argued a lot, "that I could not live with myself if I let you down. You are very dear to me little Ariah."

Aria stared at him so long that for a klik he thought he had blown her processors. And then a playful grin pulled up at her mouth that made him instantly nervous.

"Why Optimus Prime," Aria said, sounding much more like the Ariah he had known all this time, "I do believe that you just said you loved me." She said, finding this immensely funny.

Optimus resisted the urge to roll his optics at her and decided to smirk instead as he reached up a hand and lightly zapped her with a finger.

"Eep!" Aria shrieked as she fell over, laughter just pouring out her mouth as she flapped her arms at him in a meager defense. "S-stop it!" She laughed, hardly able to breathe as the current sped just under skin, tingling enough to make her twitch and giggle like someone was tickling her mercilessly. Despite that she couldn't help but feel he had just pecked her on the cheek.

She was laughing so hard she was crying again and it took her a minute to get control of her laughter. "Aha ha, w-what was, hee, that?" She asked, still giggling occasionally.

"I believe you would call that a kiss, my dear Ariah. Isn't that what you organics do when you're in love with someone? You kiss them all over?" He asked raising a finger again.

Aria gave a shriek of laughter and twitched away laughing. He gave a laugh of his own as he tousled her head instead.

"Cheeky." Aria called him as she pulled her hair out of her face. "You should save that kind of talk for your girlfriend." She taunted, eyes wide and mischievous.

"Wha-" Optimus started, surprised and a little embarrassed.

"Oh yeah, I've noticed the two of you all sweet and buttery around each other. I don't need to be connected with you to notice _that_." She said, wiggling her eyebrows impishly at him.

"Buttery?" Optimus asked just to be sure he had actually heard her right.

"What?" Aria asked.

"You said buttery."

"I did not." She protested, then getting the insistent feeling that she _had_, quickly changed the subject by asking, "hey just how can you understand me now anyway? Why aren't there a bunch of mistranslations and explanations needed anymore?" She asked.

"Your spark," Optimus said pointing but not touching, "you can understand because Ariel, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, Chromia, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Hound, and Ratchet can understand."

"Okay," Aria said, eyebrows coming together as she thought about this, "but then how can you understand me?"

Optimus thought about it. "I imagine Ariel had something to do with that. She will be able to understand you clearly now and she is still a master linguist. She's probably assisting in the translation somehow."

Aria half shrugged, accepting what explanation he could give and moving on. "Alright then. That sounds like it could work. Hey you want to go get something to eat? I'm starved." She said getting to her feet.

Optimus offered his hand by way of answer and then stood once she had secured herself in his palm.

"Ariah," Optimus said a few minutes later, wanting to say this before he lost his chance, "I am sorry for not being able to help you when you most needed it." He said, sounding thoroughly contrite.

But then, strangely enough, Aria smiled at him. "Nah," she said, waving away his apology, "it's alright. We'll just have to do things the human way for once." She told him with a grin.

Optimus blinked at her. He hadn't thought about it that way before. "I guess we will."

"Hey you don't suppose this'll make Wheeljack's nutrition experiments taste any better do you?" Aria asked pointing rather hopefully at the glow of her spark as Optimus navigated his way through the Hall of Records.

"Probably not." Optimus told her. "I don't believe it has any affect on your taste buds. Although curiously enough it does seem to have corrected your pancreatic malfunction." He informed her.

Aria stared up at him. "My what?" She asked.

Optimus tried again. "Your lack of insulin."

"Ah," Aria said, nodding this time. "Well that's good, I guess. But what about the side affect Wheeljack's insulin had on my lifespan?" She asked, suddenly nervous. She had been alive for who knew how long already. She didn't want to just up and disintegrate because her diabetes had been healed through spark-therapy.

Optimus looked slightly anxious now. "We can't be sure since this has never been done before of course. However I would think it would be reasonable to assume that you'll now have something similar to our lifespan, as long as the spark doesn't leave your body it should keep your frame in good health for long vorns to come. You'll probably have as much a shot as longevity as the rest of us."

"Hmm," Aria said in mock thoughtfulness, "so the odds aren't all that good then are they?"

"On a good day." Optimus added.

Aria laughed.

...

Later that lunar cycle, Optimus stood in the doorway of the room the younglings had been sharing ever since they had learned of Treads' death and Ariah's injury. None of the adults had had the spark to separate them, especially now that it had been decided that splitting them up would be safest for the younglings. It would probably be some time before they all saw each other again.

Aria was with them tonight, curled up at the very middle of the pile. Bumblebee was behind her, staying close to make sure she was still there. On his other side was Arcee, who was usually close to either 'Bee or Cloudraker because they hardly ever moved while they were sleeping, so they didn't end up kicking her during the night or getting so turned around that their feet ended up in the little femme's face.

Val was on Aria's other side, and Optimus noticed that the little organic had wrapped her arms around the young mech's neck in a hug even as they slept. Behind him was Fastlane, who had one arm thrown over Val's shoulder not so much in a comforting hug, but amidnightsprawl. Cloudraker was lying above the others, his knees curled up tight against his chest and his arms under his cheek, the complete opposite of his brother. The very movable Skids and Mudflap were below everyone's feet so they didn't disturb the others as they tossed and turned and kicked each other all night long.

_ "Even when they sleep they fight,"_ he thought as Mudflap twisted over and planted his feet on top of his brother. Skids must have mistaken him for a blanket because he grabbed his bother's leg and pulled him like he would wrap a blanket around himself, but all it did was make Mudflap lie on his head. It looked horribly uncomfortable.

Disturbed by Skids' bumping his foot with his head, Val pulled his feet up closer to him, setting off a chain reaction that had the rest of the younglings, even Cloudraker who hardly ever moved, shifting and turning to get back into more comfortable positions. Bumblebee nearly rolled over on top of Aria, but she moved too, fitting into the puzzle like all the others.

_"It's a wonder they can sleep like that at all." _Optimus thought, shaking his head as the eight sleeping figures settled again. But then he had to step forward quickly as Fastlane chose that moment to flop over the side of the bed.

Optimus caught him before he fell all the way to the floor. "You all are getting too big to pile onto one bed." He muttered to the sleeping younglings as he gently set the boy back on the bed, as far away from the edge as possible. As soon as he let go, Fastlane rolled over towards Val, facing the middle of them as he finally fell still.

Optimus shook his head at him. It was like they never stopped moving. They would all be strong soldiers when they were grown.

Optimus gave the younglings a very different look now. They were getting to that age, he knew, when they should start learning how to survive on their own in wartime, a skill that seemed even more important to Optimus' mind now that Treads was gone and Val was left without a guardian to care for him and protect him as he grew. Already the children, especially Val, Bumblebee, and Arcee, knew the basics of hand to hand fighting (it was practically unavoidable living with a bunch of adults that lived through fighting) which comforted Optimus some.

But then he realized he was looking at the children solely as potential fighters, and he couldn't help but think he had been at war too long.

Aria whined softly in her sleep and rolled over onto her other side, automatically burying her head into Bumblebee's shoulder when she bumped into him.

A whole new set of problems swarmed Optimus now as he looked over at the sleeping organic. Like how she was going to take the news that in order to keep them safe, they were separating the younglings and hiding them away in different remote locations along with their guardians and other select bots to defend them against the rampant Decepticon forces. She wasn't going to like it – he knew that much – but a part of him thought that she would at least see the necessity of it and would understand that it was the best way to keep them safe.

There was also the little matter of what to do with her. Like Ariah had mentioned earlier, she had always expected to go home, and so had the Autobots, but now that home was no longer an option, what were they to do? Should she just keep going on as she had been, a temporary resident of their planet?

_"Only she's not just here for a little while now. She's going to stay, maybe as long until this mess is over and done with even. And it's not like she can just keep sharing a room with Bumblebee and keeping watch over the younglings, especially since they won't need watching anymore. Bumblebee and Val will probably be the only ones still in Iacon soon and they're already half grown out of their frames. She needs-"_

And then he got an idea. A downright brilliant one if you asked him too. He suddenly knew exactly what she needed, and all he had to do was ask Wheeljack, and possibly Grapple, about how to go about it.

...

Aria noticed her friends acting weird a few days after her talk with Optimus on the Hall of Record's staircase. At first it wasn't all that weird, just a few whispered conversations that stopped abruptly when she walked in the room. She thought it had something to do with the younglings and their impending goodbyes, but that didn't make much sense. It wasn't as if she didn't know about it and avoiding the subject around her irritated her more then anything. And then she noticed that it wasn't all of the bots acting funny, just the ones she knew very well.

They were up to something, she could feel it, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Although not for lack of trying. Prowl had practically banished her from his office after he had found her sneaking around as she tried to follow Bluestreak inside hoping that he'd start talking about the whatever-it-was they were planning.

He hadn't, and now every time Prowl saw her he gave her the evil eye.

_"In hindsight maybe I shouldn't have used his papers as a parachute. At least then I wouldn't have knocked his mountains of records over. And after he had organized them so carefully too..."_

Aria shrugged in 'oh well' fashion as she walked down the corridor away from the med bay where Ratchet had been looking her over to make sure no unwanted side effects from the melding of her heart and the pieces of spark had appeared. So far nothing had really changed – although Ratchet thought that if her body _did_ change it would be slowly over time so there was really no telling what the future held some fifty years (at the very least!) down the line – so she wasn't all that worried. What would come would come. If nearly dying had taught her anything, it was that the present was all that was certain, might as well enjoy it while she could. Next time she might not be so fortunate.

Aria stopped and shook herself. Apparently near death experiences made her overly morbid too.

She continued around the corner, planning to go spend some time with the younglings while she still could, but stopped when she saw something _highly _suspicious.

"Aria!" Wheeljack gave a start when he saw her standing there. "Where'd you come from?"

Aria just crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the group of bots clustered together. They had been talking quietly to each other before she had come in. Then they had suddenly stopped.

"What're you guys doing?" Aria asked, her tone telling them that she knew they were up to something.

Bumblebee, standing between Optimus and Ariel's feet, just giggled. He was in on it too.

"Good, now we don't have to go looking for you," was all Jazz said to her. "I guess that settles that. Now come on, we don't have all orbit."

Arai raised an eyebrow at him, but despite her uncertainties about what was going on – whatever 'it' was – she started walking closer. "And where are we going exactly?" She asked slowly.

'Bee giggled again, playfully. The adults just shared a look that Aria wasn't sure should make her feel nervous or excited.

"What?" She asked again, some of her doubt gone from her voice as her curiosity got the better of her. She wanted to know what was going on already.

"We," Optimus grinned as he looked over at Ariel and the others gathered around him, "have a surprise for you."

...

"Come on Aria! Come see! Come see!" 'Bee shouted excitedly a few cycles later as he dragged Aria behind him through the darkened hallway.

"Alright, 'Bee, alright! Just slow down, I can't see anything," Aria said hesitating over each step because she couldn't see far enough in front of her to even make out Bumblebee's bright yellow exterior, much less where to put her own foot.

"I thought that was the point?" Jazz pointed out in his not so subtle way.

Aria rolled her eyes at all this secrecy, but she was smiling all the same. She couldn't help but feel excited. What in the world could they have done for her that they couldn't just hand it over and say, 'Here, we thought you'd like this,'?

Thankfully the hall was short, although it didn't feel that way to Aria as she stumbled through it in the dark, wondering what was at the other end that could have everyone so excited.

But she wasn't very enlightened when they finally came out into the large room at the other end, although that might have been because nothing was enlightened at all. The room, like the hall, was completely dark except for two or three tiny lights that were diffused by some kind of see through panes sitting in front of them.

_"Wait a minute…"_ Aria thought as she stared through the dark in front of her. Around her the bots were silent, although she could still feel their anticipation, especially 'Bee's, who was practically hopping in place from excitement.

From the dim, little lights, which she realized now were too small to be of any use to the bots, she could just make out a flat sheet of metal surrounding the panes of clear material – windows! Aria realized. The lights were shining through windows!

As her eyes adjusted slightly to the dark, she could barely make out something set into the flat metal sheet. And then the dim outline of a familiar shape began to stand out of the darkness, but before she could figure out what it was and why it was so familiar to her, Bluestreak got tire of waiting and flicked on the lights, making Aria flinch at the sudden brightness and her temporary flash of blindness.

"Surprise!" He shouted, unable to contain himself any longer.

There was a mix of chuckling at his exuberance and grumbling at the sudden light. Even half blinded as she felt, Aria could still make out Ironhide's irritated growl as the most vocal complainer. She smiled, just as much at the deep seated loyalty and concern she felt at the core of her bond with him as at his malcontented grumbling.

"A little warning next time Bluestreak," the mech griped, "now she can't even see what it is." He waved an arm at Aria's general direction where she was rubbing her eyes to try and get the sunspots out of the way of her vision.

She blinked a few more times before squinting at the room around her. "I'm alright Ironhide, I think," she mumbled the last bit, hoping to spare Bluestreak's feelings at least a little. She knew he had meant well. Like 'Bee, he was just so excited for Aria to see her gift.

She didn't ask how she knew it was a gift now, rather then just a surprise. It felt like she understood a lot more about what the Cybertronians meant now then she had a few weeks ago. If she questioned it every time it happened she would never get around to doing anything else. And she thought that she would end up annoying the bots that could feel her too.

"Alright," Aria said once she had most of the vision back in her left eye, "what am I looking at…"

She suddenly trailed off, jaw dropping and eyes going wide as she caught sight of what she knew just _had_ to be her gift, if only because it was too small to be of any use even to the younglings, much less the full grown bots.

There, looking just as strange and out of place as Tinker Bell's cuckoo clock in the lost boys hide out, was a house.

Compared to the bots it looked like a dollhouse, tiny and play-like, but it was just the perfect size for a human like Aria. Tall and thin, it reminded Aria of a townhouse with two floors. It had five windows total; two on the lower level on either side of the front door and three on the upper level, although the one in the middle doubled as a glass-paned door, complete with balcony so she could stand on roughly eye level with her friends, when they were sitting at least. There was also a small set of steps leading up to the front door. Instead of a chimney coming up out of the roof though, there was a staircase that Aria saw led to the table top that sat about another story above the house's roof.

"Wha-?" She somehow managed to move her mouth.

"Well since it seems you will be staying with us for some time," Optimus said with a grin that hadn't appeared on his face in ages, "we thought it would be best if you had your own living quarters."

Behind them, Jazz gave a little shrug. "That and we figured you were tired of living in a cabinet." He said, aiming for dismissive, but he was grinning all the same at the look on Aria's face.

Aria felt downright giddy.

"You," she squeaked in growing excitement, "you made me a house!" Then she started jumping in place and giggling hyperactively, her hands covering her mouth as if that would make it less weird.

Wheeljack started talking, relieved that she looked so thrilled. "We weren't sure where to put it, so it ended up under the table where it would be out of the way. We can move it if you like. Maybe somewhere higher so we don't have to bend down all the time to speak with you…?" Wheeljack trailed off thinking as he looked around the room for a more suitable space.

"Oh my gosh," Aria whispered, barely hearing him as she stared in awe at the little building. Well, it seemed little after years of seeing only buildings made to fit aliens taller then some skyscrapers she had seen. "You made me a house! An actual _house_," she murmured, clearly stunned. The outside was made of smooth metal and painted white. Distantly, Aria realized that it looked almost exactly like a picture she had on her Ipod. It was a still image from an anime she had used to watch. The two main characters had been in the foreground dancing, but a white, cottage like house had been in the background on the edge of the sea. Through her delighted haze, Aria realized that must have been where they had gotten the decorative design for the house. The architecture though was distinctly their own.

"Well?" Ariel asked expectantly.

Aria looked around quickly. "Well what?" She asked when she finally found who had spoken.

Ariel gave a little laugh, enjoying this immensely. "Aren't you going to go inside?"

Aria just looked at her in confusion. "I can go in?" She asked, pointing one little finger at the front door.

Ariel laughed kindly, along with most of the others. "Yes, of course." She said, her voice light.

Aria giggled and jumped in place in excitement again, and then rushed to the front door. She gave the door knob a twist – it had an actual door knob! Not a control pad! – and after gently pushing the door open with her fingertips – which glided on its newly made hinges – she stepped inside.

She looked around for a breathless moment, mouth wide open as she grinned, before throwing her arms wide open and shouting so everyone standing outside could hear her, "It's beautiful!"

Outside, the group of bots laughed softly amongst themselves. She was so easy to please at times.

Inside her new house, Aria was turning in amazed circles as she tried to drink in every detail of her present. She was standing in a small hallway that opened up onto the two main rooms of the first floor. She peered into the one on the right to see a chair and a desk, perfectly proportioned for her human size, sitting in the sparsely filled room. There was also what resembled a book case that stretched from floor to ceiling on the far wall; although what they expected her to fill it with Aria wasn't sure. It wasn't like they had many paper made, human sized books lying around after all. Although curiously enough there were a few simple codex's that weren't _too_ big for her to hold already on the shelves. The other room was bare apart from a table.

In front of her at the far end of the front hall was a staircase that tightly doubled back on itself to reach the upper level. She bit at her lip as she darted up the stairs.

There was only one main room upstairs and, unlike the two lower ones, Aria could clearly tell what it was; her new bedroom. It was obvious that the most thought had gone into this one room. Everything from the divan like bed to the wardrobe that served as her closet to the curtains that shielded every see-through surface, looked as if they had been made just for her.

There were four windows altogether – the three she had seen from the front of the house and another smaller one sitting just over her bed – and each had soft looking, white curtains hanging in front of them, giving the room a light, airy feel that she much appreciated. It had been a long time since she had been in a human sized anything and, truth be told, she felt just the slightest bit boxed in after spending so much time in places that were bigger then any football stadium Aria had ever seen.

As she was looking around in delight, a tapping sound came from the other side of the middle, floor length window.

Curiously, Aria went over and pulled aside the curtain to see the glass door leading out onto the balcony she had seen earlier. Wheeljack's large, glowing optics were on the other side, nearly filling the door frame he was so close.

After shoving the slightly sheer curtains aside so they wouldn't get in the way, Aria opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony.

"What do you think?" Wheeljack asked as soon as she was out.

Aria hadn't stopped beaming since she'd laid eyes on her new house. "It's brilliant!" She said, barely able to stop herself from just dancing around like a loon in front of everybody. There'd be plenty of time for that later when she was alone.

In her new house!

"You should go look in that ow!" Wheeljack tried to say before his finger rammed into the side of Aria's house. Wheeljack drew back instantly, trying hard to keep the curses Aria could feel building up behind his teeth from spilling out in semi-polite company. Although amazingly enough her house hardly even twitched.

_"It's even earthquake proof!"_ Aria thought smiling wide.

Wheeljack, however, looked less then pleased as he inspected his finger. "Just go look in the second door." He told her before drawing back to a safe distance from the strong structure.

Turning around Aria did.

"Oh my gosh," she murmured in awe when she had opened the only other door in the room that sat over by the wardrobe, "I think I'm in love."

It was a bathroom. A for real and for true tiled, sparkling clean, bathroom complete with tub, sink, and, miraculously enough, running water.

For a moment Aria felt close to crying. _"My very own shower…"_ she thought to herself. She had learned fairly quickly that when your extraterrestrial hosts used various acids to strip the potential corrosives from their exteriors, the little organic guest did not get lots of chances to bathe.

This had just turned from marvelous gift into Heaven on Cybertron.

Aria gave a little sniff that wasn't all dramatics. "It's beautiful." She said softly, wiping away a pretend tear.

"We thought you'd appreciate it." Jazz said as he knelt down to get a better view through the one open window. He ended up bumping shoulders with Bluestreak who was crouched down next to Wheeljack as they all jostled for space to see how Aria was reacting to her new personal space. Window space was quickly becoming scarce, not that the girl noticed.

"Yes, now if you'll just go back downstairs I can show you the house key, so to speak-youch! Bluestreak! Watch your elbows! You just shoved your joint into my sore leg," Wheeljack cried, glaring at Bluestreak.

"Oh for Primus' sake!" Ironhide shouted, throwing up his hands in exasperation and cutting off the growing argument. "This is ridiculous. Just get out of your skins so that we can all see what's going on!"

And then before Aria could even begin to wonder what in the world that even meant, a man just _appeared_ on her balcony without so much as even a glimmer of light.

Aria jumped a foot in the air and gave a startled shriek. "Who the heck are you?" She demanded staring at the man with strong features, black hair, and blue eyes. For a moment her attention was torn between asking why the bots weren't doing anything about this randomly appearing stranger and the realization that there was something just plain off about the man standing in front of her. It was like he was almost…two dimensional.

Ironhide just chuckled. "What?" The man on the balcony said as he stiffly looked down at himself. "Don't ya recognize me? I'll admit I'm a mite smaller but other then that-" he trailed off, giving Aria a sneaky grin. The same exact sneaky grin that Ironhide was giving her.

Aria felt her eyes grow wide as she looked between Ironhide and the 2-D human. "Ironhide?" She eventually whispered, staring at the man.

The human-version of Ironhide grinned wider and spread his arms to show off his new form. "In the holo-flesh," He said.

Aria blinked. "The what?" She asked as she gave into her more childish side and experimentally poked the Ironhide-man in the chest. She jumped back in outright surprise when her hand didn't just go right through the person as she had expected. "You're real!"

They laughed at her as if she was one of the children. "They are made of holomatter; a solid substance that can be created through a special generator we possess." Ariel said as her own avatar sprung up out of nowhere; a picturesque woman that any artist would have begged for as a muse.

"Cool," Aria breathed as she took a step forward to inspect Ariel's human-esque body. "I didn't know you could do that. And after all this time too," then she gave a little shrug, "Figures I guess, you live with someone for too many years to count and something like this pops up. But why do they look kinda, ah," she quickly coughed, "I mean, they're kind of, eh, flat." She said hesitantly, not wanting to hurt their feelings now that they were finally small enough to be on her eye level.

Ariel smiled though and held out Aria's Ipod. "Yes, well I'm afraid this was the only template of other figures we could find." She told her. "Helpful, but not very good for three dimensional figures."

Aria nodded as she took her mp3 player. "That would explain why you sorta look like my Aunt Jeanette." She said thoughtfully. Then she looked over at Ironhide. "And why you look like Adam Baldwin." She said, laughing at the inside joke. It seemed so fitting that Ironhide resembled the infamous Jayne Cobb.

Ariel and Ironhide's avatars exchanged a look. Ironhide just shrugged. He didn't know what she was talking about either.

"Say," Aria said, grabbing their attention again. She was peering at the railing of the balcony now. Bumblebee, who had managed to get right next to Aria's house now that the holoforms had solved the space problem, peered with her. "What are these markings? I think I saw them inside too." She murmured as she carefully traced one with a finger.

"Oh! I know!" Arcee suddenly popped up next to Bumblebee, raising one hand excitedly above her head. Chromia followed her at a slower pace from the door they had just appeared through. "That's one of the characters Ariel's been teaching us. It means pos-prospre-"

"Prosperity." Ariel carefully sounded out the word for the little femme.

Arcee nodded her head over at her older sister. "Yeah, what she said." Then she threw a small arm out pointing through the open window. Aria ducked to avoid getting accidentally hit by an arm as long as she was tall. "I did _that_ one." Arcee said proudly. "I made it up all by myself."

Bumblebee coughed indignantly and bumped her with his elbow.

"Oh right, I mean _we_ made it up. It means _jie mei_!" She cried excitedly. Then both children waited anxiously to see what Aria thought of it.

Aria smiled when she saw which character Arcee was pointing at. It was engraved just over the head board of the bed, like a sign with her name painted on it. It was bigger then the others and not as neatly drawn. The lines were shaky and zigzagged halfway through their making, but Aria thought it was the most beautiful out of all of them.

"You guys are so sweet. I love it!" Aria told them. "Can you come inside and show me it?" She asked.

But they shook their heads sadly. "No, we're too small to make holo-people yet." Arcee told her, slumping over slightly.

'Bee copied her. "Yeah," he added morosely, but then suddenly brightened up. "But we can show you how we made it!" He said, eyes glowing brighter for a moment.

Aria nodded. "Yes please." She said with a grin. Then the two of them ran off to get their first clumsy attempts at making up a new word which they had left in Wheeljack's lab, purposely positioned next to the med bay.

Aria smiled as they quickly disappeared out the door. Next to her, Ariel laughed at their sweetness.

"They mixed the symbols for older sister and younger sister to make a new word for you. Although I'm not sure how you would describe it. The younglings were so excited to help so we said they could decorate it. They each carved a character for you." The femme that looked like a mix between Aria's Aunt Jeanette and a sweet faced first grade teacher told her, although there was more then enough of Ariel's own steadiness mixed into her new form.

Aria looked back at the inside of the house in amazement. "You mean they did all this?" She asked pointing at the little characters that were engraved on not just the walls, but lined the molding, traced the contour of the bed frame, outlined the wardrobe door, and appeared in some shape or fashion along every other flat surface in the house, upstairs and down.

Ariel's avatar gave her a sly smile. "Well, they might have had some help."

"Yeah," Chromia said as her own human form flickered to life – a strong bodied, dark haired woman that resembled Laura Croft – between her sister and mate. "We left our own marks on this place. Mine's downstairs near the door, but there's Bluestreak's over there by the window. Although his handwriting is so awful I can hardly read it." She said peering over at one of the large sigils engraved under the windowsill. "Is that…slothfulness?" She asked as she leaned down to get a better look with her own two optics as her avatar squinted and made funny faces as she tried to make out Bluestreak's scrawl.

"It is not!" Bluestreak shouted out, affronted. "Why would I write slothfulness? That's not something you bless a house with. It says 'togetherness'."

Chromia looked back at him. "Really?" She asked and looked at it again. "Yeesh Blue you've really got to work on your handwriting."

"Tell me about it." Prowl finally spoke from where he stood on the other side of Aria's house. "I feel like I need a translator to even _try _and read his reports."

Bluestreak glanced down, embarrassed, but Aria just waved an arm at the two. "Well I like it, now quit making fun of my wall." She yelled up at them before turning back to Ariel. "So what about the rest of you? What'd you write?"

"Luck," Jazz called out, "because you so obviously need it."

"Clear sight," Prowl said directly.

"Prosperity," Ariel told her, "although another way to read it could be longevity I suppose depending on what inflection you use."

Chromia just rolled her eyes at her sister. "Strength, for protection."

Ironhide hmphed slightly embarrassed. "Strong will." He muttered, and then quickly added, "Hound put determination up there somewhere, but he tweaked it because he said it should read 'cussid stubbornness'. I told him you thought it would be an insult."

Aria just shook her head and laughed. "No, I get it."

"Peace," Optimus said almost solemnly, but then he grinned, "or in our language you would say Pax."

Aria laughed and then looked expectantly at Wheeljack.

"Huh? Oh," the inventor said, his mind clearly somewhere else, "eh, ingenuity, but really Aria I want to show you the keys-"

"Common sense!" A new voice suddenly shouted from across the room.

Aria saw Wheeljack's eyes go wide. "Uh-oh," he gasped, "Jazz, didn't you tell him?"

Jazz gave Wheeljack a look that said he was losing his processors. "No, I thought you did."

"Uh-oh," Wheeljack repeated.

"Yeah, 'uh-oh'," Ratchet said as he joined them, Bumblebee, Arcee, and the young twins hard at his heels. "You couldn't wait five more cycles until I was done? Really?" He demanded, propping his hands up on his hips as he stared down Wheeljack and Jazz.

Fortunately he was distracted from chewing out the ones that had left him out, however accidentally, by the rest of the younglings charging through the door. With their usual noise, they all crowded around the balcony where Aria was to show her their first attempts at writing.

"Oh for Primus' sake!" Wheeljack finally yelled, and then before Aria could ask him what was wrong, a blonde man in a white lab coat appeared next to her, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back into the house and down the stairs.

"I mean really," the frazzled looking avatar muttered as he and Aria quickly descended the stairs. "It's the most important part and no one's even going to let me finish what I was trying to say." He complained as he led Aria into the room that was empty except for the table.

"There. _This_," Wheeljack's avatar said, abruptly stopping and nearly plowing Aria into the nearby wall. He picked up a remarkably small data pad that had been left on the table and held it out to her with a beaming smile. "Is the house key. It controls everything in the house; from the temperature to the wall color."

Aria took it with a glance at the suddenly blonde Wheeljack. "Really?" She asked. "Cool."

She reached out to press a button.

"Not that one!" Wheeljack yelled.

Aria jumped, nearly dropping the data pad on the floor. "What? Why not?" She asked in a too loud voice.

"Oh, um, no reason," Wheeljack instantly started looking at everything but her, "none at all, just still working out some, ah, some kinks. Nothing to worry about. Just don't press the doomsday button."

Aria's eyes went wide as saucers. "The _what_?" She demanded.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Wheeljack said quickly, "you know what, why don't you try this one instead?" He asked and reached out to press a different button on Aria's new data pad.

Immediately the lights dimmed into a comfortable evening glow and the walls around them turned a dark, hunter green that complimented the shadows left by the more prominent engravings.

Aria turned in a circle, mouth hanging upon in wonder as she took in all the details of her new, color-changing residence, momentarily forgetting about Wheeljack's so called 'doomsday button'.

"Best. Present. Ever." She breathed. Then she went outside and thanked each and every one of her friends so much that Prowl eventually left just so she would stop hugging him. Once things calmed down a little she and the younglings spent the afternoon playing with all of the wonderful new buttons now at her disposal, although they made sure to avoid the one, not so wonderful one. Just in case it lived up to its name.

...

_Star Date 10-40 (n_n; I've always wanted to say that, but Hound keeps telling me you actually write Stellar Temporum or ST when you want to indicate the orbit and stellar cycle); Day ten of my new life:_

_ I now understand why all the bots use these data pad things. They're awesome! I swear, it's like they can do anything. Not only do I now have a new, secure, place to keep my diary, but the younglings and I were using it to play with the spectrums (or as I like to say 'wall colors') of my new house and – I have no clue what Cloudraker touched –it suddenly turned the walls into a rainbow!_

_ I can live in a rainbow house!_

_ We all laughed at that, but it was late before I was done explaining what a rainbow was, so afterwards they had to go to bed. And even though I now have my very own house with my very own room in it, I slept with them just that one last time._

_ It's the last time I'll ever get to, you see. Ariel, Chromia, and Arcee, along with the other femmes, Firestar, Moonracer, all of them, left the next day. We just said our goodbyes._

_ It was hard, especially with Arcee. I'm going to miss that girl so much. I started crying, which set Arcee off of course. She's not happy about this at all._

_ Ironhide is the same way. The last few orbits he's either been stomping around, grumbling to himself, or alone with Chromia doing I-don't-want-to-know-what._

_ Still it was sad to watch them finally say goodbye (although they did take their own sweet time about it where we couldn't hear). I mean, when they were together I could let myself feel at least a _little _bit better because _someone_ got a chance at happiness together._

_ Well, maybe they're not the _only_ ones. Right before Ariel and the others left, I saw her step closer to Optimus, to tell him something I guess, but then she zaps him – smooch! – and nearly sends him into some kind of shock! I swear he froze faster then ice in __Antarctica__. And then she quick steps back again before the whole room could notice. Of course they know about it anyway but…_

_ Hey! Now don't look at me! It was all Jazz, I swear!_

_ …hee hee hee, Optimus and Ariel sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…_

_ Sorry, sorry, you're right now's totally not the time and place. I'll focus, really._

_ …hee hee hee…_

_ Anyway, after she stepped back from her kissing (Finally! Lol) Ariel smiled and gathered up her femmes._

_ "See you soon," she told us._

_ Where they went, I don't know. Only Optimus and Prowl do. It's a security thing they tell me, and I _do _understand, really I do, just like I understand why they have to hide the younglings, but it still makes me nervous. It's just, this is the last time I'll see them in a long time. I don't know what I'll do without my little _Meimei _to even out the masculinity around here. Or Ariel and her obsession with correct word usage and grammar structure. Or Chromia's smirking attitude and Moonracer's clumsy jokes and Firestar's win-or-go-home attitude when we play this game (which is remarkably similar to flag football). But then, if it'll keep the younglings safe, well…what else can I do?_

_ I'm still going to miss them; all of them. Especially since the rest of the boys, except Val and Bumblebee, are leaving over the next few orbits too. Skids and Mudflap are going off with their guardian Treehugger, along with a handful of other trusted and (because it's the twins) patient mechs to keep them safe. If you ask me, they have the hardest job in the universe and not just because the twins don't know the meaning of the words 'laying low'._

_ Unfortunately, Fastlane and Cloudraker will be sent to different strong holds. Autobot Seekers are so rare that Optimus has split them up to try and even out the vacuum regarding the air front. I'm not sure where they're going either, but that's not so much a secret as I just didn't bother to learn where Smokerunner and Cloudcover – remember them? They look after Fastlane and Cloudraker – have been stationed._

_ I'm not sure how long Val will stay in Iacon, but since it looks like he'll be joining Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers when he's older, and the Wreckers' home base is in Iacon no matter how many places they go to, he'll be here at least for awhile yet._

_ ...If he doesn't join Treads first..._

_ *sigh* I shouldn't think like that. Ironhide's right; the 'what ifs' will only drive me mad. Of course he also seems to think that Aria is not my real name anymore. Yesterday, I was telling Bumblebee and Arcee to just call me Tinkerbell what with my new mini house sitting on the cabinet top (and yes they _do_ know about Tinkerbell. Well, alright, they know about Tinker_bot_ but it's the same difference) and Ironhide, who over heard our conversation, comes up and says, "But Sparkfinder's got such a nice ring to it."_

_ I told him to quit eavesdropping and mind his own business._

_ Only Bumblebee and Arcee know that I secretly like my new name. ;3_

_ And he and Optimus are right; I'm one of them now. And yeah, I still worry about Sera, but I know she made it home in one piece. I can feel it, as sure as I can feel the others through the spark in my chest. She'll be alright. She'll find Mom and Dad and she'll get better. And she has my little journal book now and her bracelet was wrapped around it too, so she'll always know how much I love her. I think she was meant to live on Earth, not Cybertron. But me? Me I'm not so sure about._

_ I think my place is here. It was always here. It just took me getting shot through the chest to figure it out. I love them all so much, each and every one of them – from my little Bumblebee right on down to my own personal pains in the backside, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker – every single one of them._

_ Because these guys, well, they're my family now, for better or worse, life or death, forever and ever amen._

_ And I wouldn't leave them for the world._


End file.
